The Lost Heroine
by prplemyth
Summary: What would have happened in Hera had chosen Annabeth and Reyna to swap instead of Percy and Jason? Starting off with Reyna finding herself in the bus with Piper and Leo, join familiar characters in different places as the Heroes of Olympus series gets switched around. Percabeth, Reyna/Piper, AU. Also - this is going to be long regardless of how long I want it to be.
1. Blank Slate

_A/N: Alrightio. So, I'm not sure where the tumblr post is or even really who started this AU, but I got inspired to write Annabeth and Reyna being swapped instead of Jason and Percy by a tumblr post a while back. It's taken me a while to get it to the point where I felt I knew both characters enough to narrate with them, and it took a lot of guts to try this, but I hope this does not disappoint. This is a massive undertaking, the way I've designed it, as I'm essentially rewriting the entire series, but I'm actually really excited. But, since this will be a big commitment, I'm going to ask you, my readers, something I've never asked before: if you like this story (or any of mine, really, if you'd like, but mostly this one) please tell people about it. If only ten people respond, I might not be able to make time to write it, as I am a junior in college about to start student teaching next semester, so I've got a lot on my plate. However, if people like this story, I am willing to, metaphorically, squash some things out of the way to make for a nice, big serving of Reynabeth Swap. So if you like this, tell your friends! And if you like this, review! Let me know what you like, what you don't, and I will do my best to keep this going if there is a demand. _

_Tl;dr, tell people and me if you like it!_

_Love you all and I hope I do this story, AU, characters, plotline, and the fans the honor they all deserve,_

_Sara_

* * *

She was woken up by someone muttering nonsense and wrapping their arms around her waist. It took a moment – where was she?

Wait a second.

WHO was she?

She breathed deeply. Okay, that's a bra, accompanied by boobs. And those are underpants, not boxers accompanied with boy parts. She was definitely a girl. Yep, long hair. A girl. Well, female. Likely a girl.

Another deep breath. Her name. She had a name. Of course she had a name. And, gods be damned, she would make one up if she didn't. Wait. Gods? Whatever.

R-Rachel? Ray – Reyna! That was her name. She was Reyna.

Reyna blinked, slightly disoriented, and sat up. "Wh-what's going on?" she said. A slight, strangely yet astonishingly pretty brunette girl was half asleep in her lap. As if instinct, Reyna reached her hand down to brush some of the hair out of the girl's eyes. She sighed contentedly, snuggling in closer to Reyna, who suddenly began to realize how strange this whole situation was. Yes, a girl in her lap when she didn't know her own name. Something was missing here.

"Aw," said a kid in the seat in front of Reyna, looking over at the two of them. "You two are canoodling. Again." He frowned. "I know you two are dating and all but don't I get a cuddle every once in a while? Or a hug?" He exaggerated the frown. "You know, you guys used to like me."

"Excuse me?" Reyna asked. "I'm…" Reyna paused. It took her thirty seconds to remember her name. It took her thirty seconds to even be sure she was female, for gods' sake. It was stupid to assume she wasn't dating this girl. "What?"

The kid frowned. "You okay, Rey? You seem," he studied her face, "perplexed."

The girl in Reyna's lap fidgeted and sat up, rubbing bleary nap-blinded eyes with her fists. "Oh, don't mind me," she grumbled, "just trying to nap on my girlfriend here, I hope I'm not interrupting your babbling, Leo."

The boy, apparently called Leo, shot a grin over toward her. "You don't need that beauty sleep, Pipes, you've got it all anyway." He glanced over at Reyna. "This is the part where you usually tell the two of us to knock it off." He stared at her. She stared back.

"Dude, what's wrong with her, Piper?" Leo asked the girl in Reyna's lap. "Did you break her or something?"

Piper brushed her hair out of her face and shook her head. "She was fine about twenty minutes ago. She said she was tired, I mentioned that Coach wouldn't be able to yell at us for falling asleep, because, hello, like he could see over the seats, and we conked out."

"Coach?"

Piper nodded up to the front of the bus, and Reyna adjusted herself from the slouch to peer over the back of Leo's seat. "That's Coach Hedge," said Leo, "he –"

"Valdez!" barked the extremely short man in front of them, "shut up before I make you shut up! You kids back there don't want to volunteer for bus cleanup, do you?"

The three shook their heads. Reyna might barely remember her name, but she damned sure knew that the last thing she wanted to do was cleanup.

They slunk behind the seat again. "Piper, is he allowed to talk to us that way?" asked Reyna, feeling indignant. No one spoke to her that way, she thought with conviction. Why, of course, she felt like speaking that way to her was different to another was something she couldn't answer at that particular time.

Piper nodded. "The kids are the animals here." Piper turned to her, smiling, but Reyna had a strange feeling there was a joke she was missing, a smile from the past she was forgetting.

Reyna felt herself struggle to remember, struggle to think about something from her past. But nothing was there. "I don't think I'm supposed to be here," mumbled Reyna.

Piper looked like she had been punched. "I – don't let Isabel and them get to you," Piper said, her voice low but fierce. "I don't care what they've been saying about us. You're –" Piper paused. "I don't care that they call me horrible things. I don't care what they say." She took Reyna's hands, bewildering her. "And – and I don't think you should either."

Reyna was startled – people had been homophobic toward the two of them? Hell, Reyna didn't even know her last name, let alone her sexuality. And she definitely didn't remember bullying. This memory issue was becoming more and more complex as the seconds went by. Besides, the thought of anyone being rude to herself or Piper as borderline rage inducing.

"It's not that," said Reyna, "I really don't think I'm – I don't feel like I'm literally, actually supposed to be here on this bus."

Piper blinked and dropped Reyna's hands. "Oh," she said, "well, I, um, I guess that's…" She reached over the bus seat and, Reyna assumed, hit Leo over the head, because next thing Reyna knew, Leo was peering over the seat with a slightly displeased glare. "Don't hit me," he said, frowning, "it hurts my soul. And what?"

"There's something wrong with Reyna," said Piper, wringing her wrists and not meeting Leo's nor Reyna's eyes. "She – she doesn't remember. And I don't think," Piper looked up, looking into Reyna's eyes finally. "No. She doesn't know who I am."

"She knows you're Piper," said Leo, turning to stare at Reyna like the answer was written across her skin. "She definitely knows." He furrowed his brow. "You know she's Piper, right?"

Reyna, reluctantly, shook her head. "I know she's Piper," she began carefully, "but I don't know who Piper is. And I don't know who I am."

"You're Reyna!" said Leo with a grin, but it was clearly forced. "You love me and put up with all my stupidity. I put Jell-o in your pillow one night, and you responded by shoving the Jell-o and half of your pillowcase in my mouth." He sighed like it was a treasured memory. Reyna was sure she had to be insane to have him as a friend. "We're best friends," continued Leo, "You give me your deserts. And you clean my –"

"Leo," cautioned Piper.

He shrugged. "Well, we are your friends. Well, I am. Piper, on the other hand –"

Piper blushed. "Look, if she doesn't remember, we can't force her or anything. I just," Piper sighed. "I thought you were done with- with us and didn't want us to be…" Her sentence trailed off. "Never mind. That's not the important part right now. What questions do you have?" Piper frowned, which looked quizzical and adorable on her, as opposed to Leo, who looked as if he were struggling to breathe and needed help.

"Let's start off with where we are and why we're on a bus with a very small man who looks as if he wants to kill us all."

"We're students at the Wilderness School," said Piper. "It's not fun. Or pleasant. Or – useful, really. Everyone here is some sort of trouble maker."

Reyna blinked. For some reason, troublemaker didn't seem like the right thing for her. Weirdly enough, she felt more like she would make the rules than break them. "What did you guys do?" she asked.

"I'm a runaway," said Leo with a shrug. "And Piper, innocent as she looks, stole a car."

"I didn't!" exclaimed Piper.

"Sure, right, he gave it to you," Leo shot Reyna a look that clearly meant _can you believe her?_ But, somehow, Reyna almost did. And she almost believed that she and Piper were together. And she almost believed that there was something about this place that felt familiar. Or someone.

But she wasn't sure of anything but the fact that she wasn't supposed to be there.

"I still don't think this is right," Reyna mumbled. "Something's wrong."

Piper sighed. "Well, we'll figure it out, okay?" She smiled at Reyna with something so pained behind it that Reyna almost knew that that kind of smile would only be cured with a kiss.

Where was this COMING from?!

"Cow goes moo!" called someone from the front of the bus.

"What on earth…?"

Leo snickered and pulled out a screwdriver. "I've got some highly marketable skills," he said with a wink. "I'm a special boy."

Piper laughed. "That's truer than anything should be."

The three of them walked out of the bus and made it halfway to the building before some girl yelled, "Hey, lesbo freak, got any relatives drinking up a storm on this property?" She smirked. "Because they'll probably kick you out now."

Reyna's jaw dropped. Did this girl SERIOUSLY just say that?

Piper, to Reyna's shock, just scoffed. "First of all, just because I'm dating a girl doesn't mean I'm a lesbian. Second of all, if you had any brain at all, Isabel, you'd know I'm Cherokee and this reservation is Hualapai. Of course, you'd need to think to understand the difference, so I can't exactly expect that from you."

Leo and Reyna snickered. Reyna had a feeling that, yep, this was why Reyna-with-a-memory was dating Piper.

"Oh, so you're not a lesbian?" replied Isabel, looking a little off kilter but still fighting for a breaking word. "So you're just playing gay pretend?"

"Even if she was 'pretending,' which she's not, that's better than pretending you're better than people because your rich mom and daddy don't care enough to take you home for the holidays," said Reyna before she really realized what she was saying. It was a guess, what she had said, but it really hit home.

Isabel swayed like Reyna had punched her. "I – they're at Sandals!" she exclaimed. "It's a couples resort!"

Piper rolled her eyes at Reyna as Isabel walked away.

"You don't have to do that," said Piper under her breath. "I can fight my own battles."

Reyna would have responded, but then Coach Hedge called, "The horse says NEIGH – I mean, stick with your partners!"

"Partners?" asked Reyna.

Leo nodded. "You're with me, and Piper's with –"

"Hey, babe," said a blonde guy with a disgustingly white smile. "You excited to be my partner?"

Piper glared at him. "If excited means I've never been more tempted to stab myself with Leo's screwdriver, than yes indeed."

Dylan laughed as if Piper weren't being horribly serious. "You're so cute, Pipes. I think that's got to be the whole attraction to me thing talking."

"Something that doesn't exist can't talk," Piper deadpanned. "And don't call me Pipes." Unfortunately, though, she couldn't move his arm and walked with her in the opposite direction.

"Should I have not said anything when that girl was taunting her?" Reyna asked.

Leo nodded. "That kind of was the thing that clinched it for me."

"Clinched what?"

"You'd never jump in for her battles if your memory was here, if you really knew what was going on – Piper's good with words. She's always the one to jump back with an insult."

Reyna nodded slowly.

When Leo went over to the bridge to look at some types of rock, Reyna was cough off guard but a hand on her shoulder.

"Alright," said Coach Hedge as he spun her around, "who are you?"

"What?"

"Are you that special package?" Hedge asked. "Because I'm supposed to be expecting some sort of special package that's going to be picked up later, and you're new, so I'm guessing it's you."

Reyna honestly couldn't come up with anything better to say than, "What?"

Hedge sighed. "Look, I'll figure this out. I'm assuming it's you, because you ended up with the other two demigods, so it's got to be you. Hopefully we get this figured out before –"

There was a crackle of lightning and a gust of wind so hard that it nearly made Hedge topple over his feet. "I had to say it," he grumbled."

The storm started abruptly, before Reyna could even blink. By the time she thought to help, Piper and Dylan were already herding the other students into the building, Piper and her coat nearly blowing away in the freezing air, but looking calm and collected.

That's when all hell broke loose.

"Good times, Piper," said Dylan, laugh like a tornado shredding a rooftop. "But these good times are going to end for you now."

"The what are going to who now?" said Piper, looking baffled.

Dylan smiled broadly and began to swirl, becoming something that Reyna recognized. "Ventus," Reyna said quietly. "You're a ventus."

Dylan whirled around to stare at her, even though he couldn't possibly have heard her with human ears. "How do you…?" He grinned. "Oh, I know who you are."

"Then why don't you tell me," said Reyna, striding toward him. "How do you know me?"

Dylan grinned, "Monsters know things, little demigod."

Dylan gestured downward, and air began to swirl on either side, two new venti forming next to him.

"Don't you come near any of my little cupcakes!" screamed Coach Hedge.

And suddenly, his pants were off and little goat legs appeared and Reyna thought she must have inhaled some sort of fume being excreted by the canyon because, hello, a student became a Roman storm spirit and a Coach became half goat. This was ridiculous. She had to be tripping or something. "Faun!" she shouted. "You're a faun!"

"Satyr!" he replied, looking offended. "I'm a satyr! Fauns are Roman!"

Not having any idea what that meant, Reyna decided the best option was to dart out of the way and hope something that she'd get an explanation within the next few seconds.

She didn't.

Coach Hedge made his way to the venti that used to be Dylan, pulling out a club from Reyna wasn't sure where. "Come here, you little monster!" he yelled. His club swung and passed through it like nothing, and the venti sucked him up and spat him out onto the ground. "I knew there was a reason I hated you!" he shouted, though muffled from the winds.

Piper and Reyna's eyes met, and in an instant Reyna created a distraction and Piper ran for the club.

"Pick on someone your own size!" shouted Reyna. "Yeah, that's right! Come and get me!" The ventus glared at her, moving toward her, until Piper appeared behind it, grinned at Reyna, and smashed it on the head until it collapsed.

That girl was, cute, smart, and violent – Reyna decided that, even if perhaps she wasn't actually dating Piper, she might want to consider making that a possibility.

While Piper was incapacitating the first ventus and Reyna was searching for the second, the third ventus attacked Piper, slamming into her and sucking her up into the strangest whirlwind Reyna had ever seen. Another ventus came out of nowhere and sucked Leo up, throwing him over the cliff. "HELP ME!" he shouted.

"Hedge, you get him!" exclaimed Reyna. "I've got Piper."

Hedge nodded at her, which was slightly confusing because, hello, when did she start giving the orders, but Reyna wasn't too worried about that yet.

"What the – Dylan! What in god's name are you doing?" Piper was doing some sort of dance, and Reyna thought for a moment and realized it looked strangely like a jazz square. "Get me out of him!" shrieked Piper, flailing still. "I don't care how weird that sounds, just – help!"

Reyna looked back and forth. Coach Hedge, the faun, no wait, satyr, was still trying to find Leo, the rest of the students were trapped inside the museum, and Piper, of course, was incapacitated.

Steadying herself, Reyna prepared herself and sprinted toward the venti. Instead of it disappearing with Piper, it was so startled that it simply let Reyna plow right through it, into Piper, and the two girls soared through the air briefly until they hit the ground.

Piper groaned.

"Sorry about that," said Reyna with a cough, "didn't mean for it to go – that way."

"Nope, no problem, really. But thanks for saving my life."

The two stared at each other for a moment. Though Reyna's were dark, black to the point where her pupils often meshed with her iris, Piper's eyes were so many colors Reyna could have spent hours counting them and only managed half.

Reyna realized she had been staring only after Piper broke eye contact and coughed a bit.

"Ack," mumbled Piper, tapping Reyna on the shoulder. "Kind of lying on top of me, Rey, mind getting up? I'm having trouble breathing."

Coughing awkwardly herself, Reyna rolled off of Piper and stood.

"Where – where are Leo and the satyr…Coach Hedge…Goat…thing?" asked Piper, brushing herself off.

"Not sure."

They were answered in moments when Leo came flying over the edge of the cliff, with Coach coming up behind him. Leo groaned. "Couldn't have been more gentle, goat boy?" he complained.

"Excuse me!" said Coach, holding his club tightly and his eyes locked on the venti regrouping in front of them. "I just saved your life, small boy. You call me goat boy one more time and I'm going to tell people about that time you got locked in the bathroom and fell into the toilet!"

"HEY!"

Reyna and Piper, despite the situation, both began laughing. Unfortunately, this triggered the attention of the venti.

"Oh, gods, you people are so dumb!" shouted the former Dylan. It launched itself at Reyna, but she dived out of the way in a moment, landing in a roll and nearly flying off the edge of the canyon. Piper dived in the opposite direction, rolling into the wall of the museum, and falling still when she hit her head hard.

With Piper out of commission, and Reyna halfway to falling off of the cliff, the venti was attacking Leo now.

Scrambling for purchase on the unstable ground, Reyna threw her legs onto the dirt and used the momentum to roll the right way, landing in a crouching position. "Move out of the way, Leo!" shouted Reyna. She allowed herself a brief look over to Piper who, still dazed, was now stirring. "Hedge, Piper!" The satyr nodded and took off for Piper, while Reyna looked around for some sort of weapon. She found nothing. "Oh, hellfire," she cursed.

While the venti was still paying attention to Leo, Reyna bolted over, and, without really thinking about what she was doing, slammed right into the venti before it could tell that she had hit it.

"Yo, girl," said the former Dylan, "is is not how the two of us were supposed to do this!"

"Yo, jackass," growled Reyna, reaching instinctively for her pocket and drawing out a dark green hair clip and flicking it open. It grew shockingly until she was holding a massive sword in her hand, and pressed it against Dylan's throat. "Still want to hit on me," she said, "again?"

Dylan froze in front of her until she pressed the sword even harder into his throat.

Dylan laughed, frozen and wispy like the worst of a windstorm. "You think a mere sword can scare me, daughter of war?"

The spirit disappeared, leading Reyna to drop to the ground on her stomach and land hard. She groaned. "Oh, mother of –"

And daughter of war? Was she really that violent?

She paused. Of course she was. She almost killed him with a sword that had been a hair clip the last time she'd really looked at it.

She stood and ran to Piper, with the sword in her hand, bending it slightly and being not surprised enough when it clicked into being a hair clip again. Piper was being cradled in Hedge's arms. The satyr looked up at Reyna. "She's not – well, she's not out, but she's not really sentient yet."

"Then what do we…?"

"Leave it to me!" shouted Hedge. He launched himself over to the venti, and, before Reyna could make even a single move, they swept him up in a furious cloud, and disappeared.

Leo stumbled over. "What the sweet hell just happened?" asked Leo.

Reyna shook her head, shifting Piper so that the other girl was supported in Reyna's lap. "I have no idea at all."

Leo looked down at Piper, who was still unresponsive. "Is she – is she okay?"

"Applesauce," said Piper, smiling a bit, "Dad likes applesauce. Got it for me when I was sick and he was home between shoots." She sighed, and dropped her head onto Reyna's shoulder as if she wasn't quite sure what she was doing or where she was. "Applesauce."

"This is not good."

Leo looked around for a moment, and pulled out a water bottle from his back pocket. "Here, give her some of this."

"Where did you get that?" Reyna asked suspiciously.

Leo shrugged. "You go on the run, you pick up some habits. Like snagging things that might become handy in situations." He frowned. "Usually, though, those situations don't involve killer wind." He paused. "That came out way wrong."

Piper and Reyna both managed a laugh, which surprised Reyna. "You're okay?" she asked Piper.

Piper nodded and sat up slowly. "Yeah – I, I'm fine. Just a bit dizzy."

"Drink this," said Reyna, holding the bottle up to Piper's mouth.

For a few moments there was silence as Piper drank, the three of them staring at the ground as they tried to process the day.

And then the silence was broken when a chariot began falling from the sky, clearly aiming to land in front of the three of them.

"Am I the only one who's confused?" asked Leo, looking between Reyna and Piper. "Or is that actually a badly driven chariot with two flying ponies as pilots."

"Nope," said Piper, eyes locked on the disaster unfolding in front of them. "Nope, I'm confused too."


	2. Son of Poseidon

_A/N: Hello again, all! I think I've decided that I will likely be posting Sundays and perhaps either Wednesdays or Thursdays until the week of January 22__nd__, when it will be only Sunday postings if that. I start all upper level, really hard classes soon so I'm going to have a lot on my plate come January._

_Also, this fic would be terrifyingly long if I did every single chapter over in the same format as The Lost Hero, so I will only be writing from Reyna's perspective. This means that anything that happens without Reyna involved I will not be narrative or rewriting, because if it doesn't involve her it very likely would not change much. However, I will be making my greatest effort to integrate everything in background scenes into the story so that this AU narrative stays stable._

_Thank you, also, for all the feedback! I'm definitely taking into consideration a lot of the comments and critiques, and I really appreciate the reviews. Thank you for reading! And thanks to creatureofthegeeks on tumblr for helping me decide the level to which Percy is dramatic. On with the show!_

_Read, review, and I hope you enjoy._

* * *

As the chariot landed, not particularly well, a boy of around sixteen essentially stumbled out of it as he began to search around for gods knew what. He was talk and dark haired, and kind of the sort of guy Reyna would think handsome and, strangely, beautiful. Not feminine, but less hardened and rugged than a lot of guys and he didn't look like the ridiculous, bulky buffoons that generally frequented the minds of teenagers. Dylan came to mind.

The boy's foot got caught on part of the chariot, but it was as if he didn't notice. He essentially ripped his foot out of the hole in which it had been caught, still looking horribly frantic and frightened. "Annabeth!" he shouted, looking around. He turned behind him. "She's not here." He began breathing deeply, glaring at absolutely nothing in the distance, but it was clear he was seeing something more than just the horizon. "You said she would be here," he growled, staring ahead, "you told me I would find her."

Okay, thought Reyna, maybe the whole looking good thing was completely irrelevant when he was appearing to have a psychotic break.

"Where's Annabeth?" he demanded as he ran toward Reyna and took her by the shoulders. "You're not Annabeth."

Reyna momentarily felt the urge to step away from him, but instead she glared back and pushed his hands away. "Of course I'm not!" she replied. "And get off of me."

The girl who was next to him in the chariot clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Cool it, Jackson, we'll find her."

The boy, whom Reyna assumed was called Jackson, glared at the girl with the scraggly brown hair. "I swear to Hades, Clarisse, if you don't move your hand…"

Clarisse stepped back about three feet and sighed. "What did you expect? Annabeth to be sitting here, legs crossed in front of her computer as she babbled on about the Arkda Triumph's infrastructure or whatever?"

"Arc de Triomphe," the boy corrected. It seemed automatic and unintentional, like he hadn't actually intended to say it. "There has to be some sort of clue around here. We wouldn't have been sent here if there hadn't been a reason." Resuming the frantic frenzy, Percy began pacing, his head down, until he stopped right in front of Reyna. "She's got a shoe missing," shouted the Jackson kid, pointing at Reyna in an almost accusing manner. "She was supposed to lead us to Annabeth!"

Reyna blinked. "My shoe isn't m –" She looked to the ground. She was wearing a grand total of one dark blue converse. "Oh."

"Wait, wait, wait," said Piper, holding up her hands. "Everybody, hold your horses, because those metaphorical horses are getting seriously out of control." It was as if a wave of calmness rushed over everyone, which surprised Reyna since she had been feeling horribly lost. "Who are you, who is Annabeth, and why are there flying horses in front of me when that clearly isn't something that makes sense in this world?" Then she nodded over to the Jackson boy. "And, for god's sake, what is his damage?"

"Pegasi," said the kid named Jackson.

Piper blinked. "Excuse me?"

"The flying horse," he muttered, "they're called Pegasi."

Piper nodded slowly. "I thought there was only one named Pegasus. But alright then, Jackson, Pegasi."

"It's Percy, actually. Percy Jackson."

"Okay, Percy," said Reyna, stepping in. "Why exactly are you in such a rage right now, and how can we help out?"

Percy looked as if he were about to cry. "Annabeth's missing."

"Yeah, dude?" interjected Leo. "Not to be rude, but we kind of guessed that."

Piper elbowed Leo in the ribs. "Leo, cool it," she hissed.

"Can you tell us who Annabeth is?" asked Reyna carefully.

"His girlfriend," said Clarisse.

Percy nodded. "Disappeared about three days ago. Just – gone." As if washed over with rage, Percy ripped a pen out of his pocket, uncapped it to reveal a massive sword, and drove it into the side of the building.

Reyna, Piper and Leo stepped back, whereas Clarisse basically just rolled her eyes.

"I'd be tempted to make a pen-to-sword innuendo," said Leo, eyeing Percy's weapon, "but I'm afraid you'd skewer me."

As if Percy hadn't heard a word, he walked toward the edge of the canyon and yelled, "WHERE HAVE YOU TAKEN HER?!" The thunderous roar echoed too many times. He dropped to his knees and curled onto himself, shouting. Leo actually stumbled away from Percy, situating himself conveniently behind Reyna and Piper. Piper turned around and raised one eyebrow at him.

He mumbled something about not meaning to do it and moved back next to her.

"Don't mind him," said Clarisse. "The goddess of marriage hates his girlfriend and swept her up to gods know where, so he's having a bit of a constant hissy fit these days."

Clarisse's nonchalance worried Reyna. "And you think it's acceptable just to mock him in this situation?" she asked. "Really, he needs assistance, not someone trying to tear him down."

Reyna rolled back her shoulders and walked over to Percy, grabbing the back of his shirt and pulling him into a standing position. He stared at her, looking bewildered. "Alright now, Percy," began Reyna sternly. "Nothing's going to be accomplished by throwing yourself on the ground and shouting at dirt. It's not going to respond, and it's not going to help you."

Percy coughed and steadied himself, looking surprised. "I – alright then. Where's Gleeson?"

"Where's who?"

"Your protector," said Percy, capping his sword – what? – and Reyna watched in surprise as it shrunk to a pen again. "Gleeson Hedge?"

"Coach? The guy with the goat legs? I think it's called a satyr?" asked Leo. "Yeah, he…"

"The venti got him," said Reyna quietly.

"The what?" Clarisse asked. "I'm not sure I've heard that…Oh, well, he's gone?"

Percy turned to her. "A little sensitivity, maybe?"

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "Whatever. You demigods okay?"

"Demi-whos?" asked Leo, frowning. "There's a lot of weird lingo going around, people, you might want to make some of this clearer."

"Half god, half human," said Percy, still looking a bit distracted. "Also known as –"

"Halfblood," interrupted Reyna.

All four of the others whirled around to stare at her. "How did you know that?" asked Percy.

Reyna struggled for an explanation. "I – I have no idea," she said, fighting for another glimpse of memory. "I don't know."

Clarisse turned to Piper. "What's wrong with her?"

"Not sure," said Piper, shrugging, "it's either memory loss or she was dropped in our lives randomly."

Percy began to say something, changed it to a yelp mid syllable, and then looked away.

"What the…?" said Piper.

Percy cleared his throat. "We need to get the three of you out of here," he said authoritatively. "We're going to need more of your story, but you can explain on the way."

Reyna strode toward the chariot, and immediately pet one of the pegasi in front of her. For reasons she couldn't explain, it comforted her and gave her strength. "A group of venti attacked us, we almost died, I was called a daughter of war, I apparently lost my shoe, and we've been called demigods," clarified Reyna as her eyes were locked on the beautiful creature nuzzling into her hand. "That good enough for you?"

Clarisse climbed in the chariot. "Oh!" she said, as if she was suddenly remembering something. "You mean wind spirits?" she asked. "The, uh, ane – anemoina…" She trailed off. "Well, they have a Greek name that's definitely not some Starbucks drink. How did you know that?"

Reyna, still with the Pegasus, shrugged. "No idea," she muttered.

Gently, Piper came up beside her and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Reyna, we should probably go."

Nodding, she moved away from the Pegasus and stepped onto the chariot.

Percy was curled up on the ground, looking worse for wear.

"Are you alright?" Piper asked him. "You look…Not good."

He waved away the question. "I'll find her," he muttered. "I'll find you, Annabeth."

Piper glanced over to Reyna, who simply shrugged in response, and they looked over to Clarisse.

"Yeah, yeah, I've got it," Clarisse said with an eye roll. "You, the one missing a shoe, take care of Weepy the Waterboy over there. He's supposed to be piloting, but he's not really in the right state of mind." She took a deep breath. "Damn it, Butch, why'd you have to get in that archery accident…" She seemed to be readying herself.

"Are you okay?" Reyna asked her.

Clarisse nodded, not looking at her. "Yeah. Drove my dad's ride once. This'll be cake." She jerked her head over to where Percy was sitting, looking like he was about to tear out his hair. "Now sit."

Reyna nodded and sat between Percy and Piper, feeling a little uncomfortable.

Piper wasn't quite focusing on anything and appeared to be thinking deeply, and Reyna didn't want to get in the middle of it, so she settled for staring ahead and grinning at Leo, who was looking uncomfortable.

"So what's this about demigods?" Leo asked. "Are we, like, able to fly or something? Because that would have made me nearly falling off a canyon a lot less terrifying."

Reyna shrugged. "No idea. In case you've forgotten, I don't even know my last name."

There was a silence for longer than Reyna wanted to think about. She wasn't just lacking a memory, she was horribly uncomfortable, and beyond that she really wanted to want to put her arm around Piper, but it wouldn't have been fair to either of them.

A few minutes through the awkward silence, the chariot started to jolt.

"Oh – oh no," said Clarisse. "Jackson! Jackson! I- I need help!" The last sentence left her as if it was forced out, like she had never thought she would utter those words in her life. "PERCY!"

As if waking from a trance, Percy lifted his head. "What?"

"They're back," Clarisse said, "the – the wind things. Anemonoai – the things that are trying to kill us are back – and they're trying to kill us!"

Reyna turned around. Whirling winds clashed together to create angry horses stampeding toward them. "Oh dear," she managed to say before one of them slammed into the back wheel.

"Percy!" shouted Clarisse. "Oh, gods, Percy, where's the button?"

"Button?!" asked Leo, halfway to a shriek. "What's the button do, send us to happy land and out of evil horseville? And why aren't they people anymore?"

"They change shape," said Percy, scrambling to the front of the chariot. "And there is no button, Clarisse, it's a flick of the reigns! They're not mechanical!"

Percy shoved her out of the way, only for the chariot to be hit even harder the second time, sending him flailing off balance and falling on top of Leo.

Reyna, feeling almost as if she was on autopilot, rolled to the front of the chariot, snatched up the reigns, and checked behind her one last time. The venti were gaining on them. With a technical twist of her wrists, she flicked the reigns, sending them flying into a black wall of speed.

Reyna fought to hold on as the entire chariot felt as if it was struggling not to shatter under their weight and the force of speed. The reins felt as if they were trying to pull out of her hands. She heard Piper scream, Leo swear, Percy yell something about, "DON'T KILL US, ZEUS, I'M SORRY!" and Clarisse whimper quietly on the floor.

Finally the chariot slowed, and Reyna, not expecting it, was thrown over the front of the chariot.

"REYNA!" screamed Piper. She ran to the front of the chariot, leaning over it to see Reyna still holding onto the reins. They'd been looped through metal rings to prevent them from flying out, and the rings were just strong enough to hold a teenage girl.

"Um," said Reyna, trying to remain calm, "help?"

Piper was already reaching down to pull up the reins, but she didn't quite have the strength.

"Leo! Percy! Somebody help me!" she commanded. In an instant both boys were over, and they managed to pull Reyna up quickly enough that she didn't quite have time to be terrified. She went to sit on the floor when Percy took the reins and tried to steer, until he realized that the Pegasi weren't steady.

"Oh no," he said, groaning, "not again."

"Not what again?" asked Leo. "Not WHAT again?!"

"We're crashing," said Percy, trying to configure the Pegasi to go the right way.

"Aim for the lake!" shouted Clarisse. "The lake!"

Piper, Leo, and Reyna's screams were interwoven as the three of them at the same time realized they were plummeting into water from about three hundred feet in the air.

The crash never came.

"Hah!" exclaimed Percy. "Ye-heah!" He moved his arms and caught the chariot in what appeared to be a pillar of water, and gently lowered them over to the beach.

The five of them plus the Pegasi froze for a brief moment as the chariot landed.

"We lived?" asked Leo. "How did – I'm alive, how does that even work?"

"Yeah, what was that weird ninja water power?" asked Piper, standing and holding out a hand for Reyna to pull herself up on. Reyna took it and stood next to her, realizing a second too late that she didn't stop holding it when it would have been appropriate.

"I'm a son of Poseidon," said Percy, running toward the edge of the chariot and leaping over it. He held out a hand to help everyone else down, but Piper pulled herself up to sit on the ledge and dropped down, Leo scrambled over it and landed on his butt, and Reyna got off in the same move Percy made. "It's what I do. I manipulate water."

"Like a water ninja," suggested Leo as he brushed off the seat of his pants

"Sure, yeah, like a water ninja."

A group of people began to surround them. "Aw, man," groaned a boy with blonde hair. "I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it."

Percy smiled apologetically, something Reyna could tell wouldn't even get him out of trouble with his girlfriend. "Sorry, Will, we ran into anem-ano…" He paused, then turned to Reyna. "What did you call them?"

"Venti," said Reyna. "We ran into a couple of venti."

"Anemoi thuellai," corrected Will. "You're using the Roman name."

"Thank you!" said Percy. "Gods, usually if I was stuck I'd just ask Annabeth, but –" He cut himself off with a look like a kicked puppy and a deep sigh.

"I take that as there's no sign of Annabeth yet."

Percy simply shook his head in response.

"So you're the new kids," said the kid named Will. "You're definitely over thirteen, aren't you? How come no one's claimed you yet?"

Percy shrugged. "Not sure."

"Wait," interrupted Leo, "what does claiming mean?"

A tall girl, Asian, with perfect hair and makeup, walked forward. "Look what the ocean washed up," she said, folding her arms. She turned to Percy. "So, get any information about Blondie?"

"Her name's Annabeth," growled Percy, his hand just touching his pocket. "And, no. So you can drop it. You would have known that if you had been here before, Drew."

Drew rolled her exquisitely made up eyes. "So, what, we're stuck with three newbies who don't know their ass from a tea pot and Jackson's still losing his head?" She sighed deeply. "Just our luck."

"Hey!" said Piper. "Back off!"

Before she could do anything rash, Reyna reached out a hand and took Piper's to calm her. "Calm down," said Reyna, "don't – don't do anything stupid."

Percy, who seemed like he hadn't heard a word of that conflict, said, "we'll give all three of them a tour of the camp. Hopefully they all get claimed so that they get a counselor and a cabin before dark."

Will nodded. "I'll go get Chiron."

"Sorry to bring the conversation back my original question from what feels like hours ago," said Leo, tone dripping with sarcasm, "but could somebody please tell me what claiming means?"

Reyna gasped when she saw a fiery hammer appear over Leo's head. She dropped Piper's hand in surprise, and the cold air washing over her hand reminded her of how much nicer it had been when the other girl's smaller hand had been in hers.

Percy sighed. "That, my friends, is 'claiming'."

Drew laughed. "Well, that would explain his unfortunate looks."

Leo hadn't heard her. He had looked up briefly, saw the flame, and began to freak out. "Somebody put my hair out!" he shrieked, running around. "I'm on fire! What's everyone doing, just standing there? Help!"

"Relax," said Percy, clapping him on the back. "You've been claimed. You're not on fire."

"The curse though," said Clarisse under her breath to Percy, not noticing that Reyna could hear. "Percy, what about –"

"Shut up," he replied. He turned back to Leo. "Well, it looks like your godly parent has identified you as theirs."

"Who's – what's – my what?"

"Godly parent," said Clarisse.

"Vulcan."

Everyone turned to stare at Reyna. "What?" she asked. "What'd I do?"

"Vulcan's the Roman name," said Percy carefully. "We call him Hephaestus."

"I don't even like Star Trek!" exclaimed Leo. "I can't even do that thing with my hands." As if trying to prove it, he fiddled with his hands until it appeared he got all of his fingers tangled into a ball. "Oh, damn," he said with a sigh.

Percy turned to Will. "Can you take Leo to Cabin Nine to meet his people?"

Will nodded. "Come on, Mr. Spock. I'll take you to your leader."

Leo shot a look of worry back at Reyna, but she shrugged and smiled. She didn't feel like he was unsafe, though she felt a bit uneasy for herself.

She realized how stiff she felt, and stretched. The sleeve of her jacket fell down her arm, and the second the skin was exposed, Piper and Percy started.

"What?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

"There's something on your arm," said Percy. "Can I…?"

Reyna held out her arm for him to look at. "You have…You have marks. They look –"

"Burned onto my arm," murmured Reyna. "Yeah th-they were."

"I've never seen anything like this," said Percy, "and I've seen a flying pig. Drew, can you take her to Chiron?"

Drew rolled her eyes. "Fine…"

As Reyna walked away, she saw Piper talking to Percy, and began to wonder what they had gotten themselves into. They were definitely in for a long run of major complications.

And something still felt wrong about her being in that place.


	3. Out of Place

_A/N: Hey readers! Shorter chapter today – lot's to come in the future and I have minimal writing time this week due to the holidays, so this is brief, though (I hope) satisfying._

_This chapter is really where I begin to divorce the story from the initial writings of Rick Riordan – Reyna's part in the story becomes to change from Jason's part, and they start to gain their own personalities and such. I hope it is all you wished for, and thank you so much for your interest._

_Bonus points for the person who catches the Buffy reference!_

_Read, review, and I hope you enjoy!_

* * *

Reyna hardly listened to Drew as she rambled on and on about how stupid it was that she had to babysit the new campers and why, oh why, couldn't there have been a hot guy there to make it more fun for her?

Reyna was just glad she didn't have to deal with Drew hitting on her.

"So then when Annabeth – that's the chick who's totally MIA right now, the one who disappeared – got Percy, like, that was a huge blow to all of us actually attractive girls here. Like, come on. Her?" Drew scoffed derisively, so cold that Reyna actually could have felt a freeze come off of her. "Not that she hasn't got that tall, tan and blonde thing going on, but she doesn't even try with the hair. It's like 'oh, ponytail, let's just chuck you up and see what happens next.' It's hideous, really."

"Course," replied Reyna, rolling her eyes. "Because, you know, the only thing one should think about when trying to stay alive is their appearance. That's totally sensible."

"Right?!" said Drew, completely missing the sarcasm. "Thank the gods somebody else here gets it."

"I cannot even deal with this right now," grumbled Reyna.

She continued to glare at Drew's back until she saw the giant house in front of her. She froze in her tracks. "Nope," she said, feeling like she was vibrating with how much she was supposed to run out of there. "I need to go. This – this is not right."

Drew turned to her. "I mean, not like I really need you to stay," said Drew, "but you're probably a demigod. So you kind of are supposed to come over here."

Reyna shook her head and fought the urge to step away. This was enemy territory. This was not where she belonged. "This is so, so wrong," she muttered.

Drew, however, ignored Reyna's protests and grabbed her arm, pulling her toward the house. "What is it, that girl?" Drew whined. "Oh, gods, you'll see her later, you don't need to be so clingy. Just come on."

Frowning and making her best attempt to pull away, Reyna found herself being dragged into the house by Drew's surprising amount of strength.

"Stop that!" exclaimed Reyna. She half stumbled down the steps."And don't do that ever again."

"Don't do what?" Drew asked, folding her arms. "Gods, you're acting like such a pretentious little holier-than-thou. Who ARE you?"

"I'm not being pretentious or holy or whatever you said," replied Reyna, brushing off her clothing. "I just would prefer not to be tugged on like a rope!"

Drew stared at the space above Reyna's head. "With an attitude like that, I wouldn't be surprised if you were a daughter of Zeus. Because you act like such a special snowflake."

Reyna opened her mouth to respond that, no, she didn't even know what her favorite color was, let alone her parentage and what the hell was a special snowflake, but she was interrupted by the clopping of – hooves.

"Ugh, finally," groaned Drew. "I'm off the case." She glanced up again at the same spot above Reyna's head.

"Are you expecting me to get claimed in front of you or something?" asked Reyna. "Because the only thing I feel like claiming right now is the right to beat you with a stick until you become pleasant."

Drew's jaw dropped. "W-well at least I'm not some –"

"Drew," began Chiron, "please stop antagonizing our new camper and tell me what's going on."

"Chiron, this is Reyna. She's a demigod. She fell into camp on a flaming chariot. Can I go now?"

Chiron, however, was acting as if he had never heard Drew. "You," he said, his eyes locked on Reyna, "why do I know you?"

"I'm sorry?"

He scanned her briefly and then stumbled backward. "You should be dead."

Reyna blinked. That sure as hell was not the greeting she had expected.

"In the house," said Chiron sternly. "Drew, back to your cabin."

"Thank gods," she said, booking it out of there like she had to pee like a Pegasus.

Reyna, feeling as if she was following Chiron to the gallows, trudged along behind the centaur and nearly jumped when Chiron said, "we have lemonade."

When they made it into the room, Reyna stared at a stuffed leopard on the wall until she realized she wasn't just staring at it.

They were making eye contact.

"Your stuffed cat is staring at me," said Reyna, not looking away from it.

"Perhaps because you are staring at him," chuckled Chiron. "Now, Seymour, Reyna is a friend. Stop bothering her, please." He picked up a Snausage from the table and tossed it into Seymour's mouth.

Reyna's jaw dropped, but she managed to compose herself quickly. "What even – what is this?" asked Reyna, not sure whether she should laugh or back out of the place. She walked a little closer to the leopard, examining it. "How does it talk? It's not anything but a head – I don't even want to know where the food goes." Reyna frowned. "What is this place?"

"This," said Chiron, "is the Camp Half Blood Big House. But I do believe we have more pressing issues to discuss, don't we?"

Reyna sighed. "Yes, we do." Reyna launched into her story, starting with waking up on the bus next to Piper and finishing with getting dragged away from the rest of her group by Drew. She left out her feelings for Piper and Piper's feelings for her. She didn't feel like it was particularly necessary information.

"You must have some questions for me as well," said Chiron.

"Most important of which being why were you so convinced I should be dead."

Chiron sighed. "The marks on your arm. That purple shirt you're wearing. These aren't the typical things one would see here at Camp Half Blood." Chiron frowned and studied Reyna. "You really don't remember anything, do you?"

Reyna shook her head and ran her fingers over the marks on her arm. "Random, tiny bits of information pop into my head every once in a while," she replied. "And – thoughts. I have thoughts about people or places that ingrain themselves into me and make me feel…" Wrong, is what she wanted to say, but she didn't want to make Chiron think she was ungrateful.

"So you've got essentially no idea where you are or who I am," surmised Chiron.

Reyna shrugged. "You're Chiron. Trainer of Heracles and other children of the gods."

"So do you believe that the gods exist?" asked Chiron.

Reyna nodded. "Of course – it's illogical to assume otherwise. No one worships them anymore, but they still exist." Something came to the front of Reyna's mind, a memory, though, something that she had not had in her head before this moment. "They move across the world in correlation with the power sources, right?"

Chiron nodded once. _"Well put," _Chiron said, _"And have you yet been claimed?"_

"_I don't know,_" replied Reyna frowning. _"Perhaps. That's one memory that hasn't returned."_

Seymour snarled, and Reyna, before she realized what she was doing, snarled back. She blushed, and then froze in her place.

She had been speaking another language.

"_Quis erat –_ what just happened?" asked Reyna.

"You just spoke Latin," said Chiron. "Most demigods recognize it, though not as well as Ancient Greek, as it is in their blood. However, without practice, none can speak it fluently."

As every moment passed, Reyna's worry and feeling of displacement grew. Chiron wasn't threatening; it was more the atmosphere of the place.

"You have a history in this world," said Chiron. "And beyond that, you have a future." He turned, meeting her eyes. "A harsh future. I can tell."

"Well that's a cheerful welcome," said Reyna with an eye roll.

"I'm not a cheerful person, unfortunately," apologized Chiron. "Briefly, I was optimistic. After Percy's victory, we expected peace for at least a brief time."

"And then Annabeth went missing," said Reyna.

Chrion nodded. "This is not the same as if a typical camper went missing." He closed his eyes. "She was the backbone of this camp, this spine for years and years." His eyes opened and bore into Reyna's. "We have no choice but to save her, to return her. She's the only thing that keeps us all from falling to madness."

"And Percy," said Reyna, beginning to understand. "She keeps Percy grounded."

Chiron folded his hands in his lap and looked down at them. "It is difficult to understand," began Chiron, "as they are both so young and you know only one of them at a superficial level, but yes. And he keeps her stable. They have both seen things, experienced horrors that no person, let alone child, should have to witness. Annabeth became friends with and, if I'm allowed to enter my own conjecture, fell in love with a boy she was convinced was sentenced to death. His survival gave her hope, and her existence as his co-leader gave him a shoulder to lean on when the worst became even more horrible, and kept him from losing his head every time."

"You love them," said Reyna simply.

Chiron laughed. "I care for Percy a bit more than a typical camper, but I have a father's love for Annabeth, of course," he replied. "I essentially raised her. She became my second in command, showed wisdom beyond even my years when she was only seven. She became counselor of the Athena cabin at twelve. She was that good."

Something in this story of Annabeth's immediate command of a whole camp, her steady control and hidden agony, resonated with Reyna. Even though she'd never met her, she wanted to find her. She began to think she would find a kindred spirit in this Annabeth Chase.

"And I'm supposed to be dead," said Reyna. "Annabeth's gone, I'm supposed to be dead, and Percy's about to lose his mind and go comatose. Can we clarify the dead part so at least one thing can be easy to understand?"

Chiron frowned. "There is nothing in the world that should have allowed me to break this secret, yet you are here in violation of the oath made on the River Styx. I know not who could have the power to break the oath and not fear the consequences. This couldn't be –"

The room slowed and stopped. Seymour turned to Reyna, his mouth dropping to release mist.

"Freaking venti," growled Reyna. She pulled the hair pin out of her pocket and snapped it, revealing her short sword.

The mist began swirling, as if trying to take some sort of recognizable shape. Its voice sounded, thundering and intimidating, but Reyna stood her ground._ "Your guardian gets one of your famous attacks? Lower your sword, my warrior, and listen to me now,_" said the mist as it formed into a woman with a goatskin cloak

"Who are you?" demanded Reyna, staring down the woman in front of her. "What do you want? And what do you mean by guardian?"

"_We have little time, Reyna. My prison grows stronger with each passing day and though I am able to appear to you here, it took a full month for this progress. There is little I can do to further assist you,"_

"Prison, huh?" said Reyna, folding her arms. "Give me a reason I should trust you enough to release you from this prison. Most people are put there for a reason."

"_You will release me because you are, at the heart, a hero, and you will do what must be done to save what must be saved."_

"Why?" asked Reyna. "What makes you so sure that I'm going to trot off like a good little girl and do your bidding?"

The woman laughed. _"If you want your memories back, if you want to feel safe ever again, you will do this. You will save me so their king will not rise from the earth, so I will not be destroyed. You will save me to retrieve your memories."_

"You're the jerk who stole my memories?!" exclaimed Reyna. "Well, then, I –"

"_You have until the sunset on the solstice, Reyna, my warrior. Do not fail."_

The smoke disappeared and the misty substance twisted back into the mouth of the leopard. Reyna blinked and heard Chiron say, "- possible without some serious consequences to the perpetrator."

"I'm going to chance a guess and say it was the lady who was just in that misty stuff," replied Reyna, nodding over toward Seymour.

Chiron looked between Seymour and Reyna's sword hand. "Where did you get -? And when did?" He turned to Seymour, looking angry. "Why do you look like you just were caught doing something awful?"

"Probably because he was spitting out a goddess to harass me," mentioned Reyna.

"Oh," said Chiron, a pained expression on his face, "that explains it."

"Explains what?"

Chiron opened his mouth to respond, but was cut short when the door flew open, and Percy, carrying Piper in his arms, burst in.

Reyna dashed over to them and helped rest Piper on the couch, where she took the other girl's hand without thinking it through. "What just happened?" she demanded. "What happened to her?"

"Hera's cabin," said Percy, not taking his eyes off of the redheaded girl who had come in behind them. "Rachel had a- a bad vision." He turned to her. "What the hell just happened, Rachel?"

The redhead, who must have been named Rachel, brushed a tear off of her cheek. "I think I might have killed her."


	4. Visions and Dreams

_A/N: Alrightio so I'm realizing that a few of these chapters are more background and character illustration than action, which I hope is alright due to the fact that Riordan's works are what I'm working off of! I'm having a lot of fun deciding how Reyna reacts in contrast to Jason, and how other people act differently due to her being Reyna. I hope this chapter is up to snuff!_

_Read, review, and I hope you enjoy!_

* * *

Reyna knelt beside Piper and furrowed her brow. "Care to clarify?" she demanded. "Because 'I think I might have killed her' is probably the least helpful thing to hear at this moment."

Rachel frowned and took an uneven breath. "I – I'm not sure," she said with a sniffle. "But I'm pretty sure she was fine until – until I grabbed her. Like I think it was my fault."

Reyna didn't care that holding Piper's hand was inappropriate or that spending all this time with a girl she didn't actually know was probably seriously messing with Piper's head, let alone her own lack of memory. All that mattered to her in that moment was Piper actually living. They'd survived the Grand Canyon, demon wind spirits hellbent on killing them, and some really awful chariot driving. Some weird vision, or whatever Percy had said, was not going to take Piper out of the game. Reyna wouldn't let it.

Chiron rested a hand on top of Piper's forehead, closing his eyes. "Her mind is in a very fragile state. Not to sound alarming, but what on earth happened?"

Rachel, steady now, shrugged. "I wish I could tell you," she began. "Really, all I knew is that I got to camp and something drew me to Hera's cabin, a premonition. I couldn't tell you how long I'd been in there before Percy and Piper came in. We were talking and then suddenly…"

"She just stopped," interjected Percy, "and then it was like she began some seriously cryptic word vomit."

"Well," said Chiron, clearly carefully trying not to comment on the fact that Percy had just said 'word vomit,' "could you explain what it was like?"  
"Nothing like a prophecy, that's for sure," replied Percy. "She sounded angrier, more powerful, and more like a, like an old lady or something."

"So not a typical prophecy," surmised Reyna. "What did she say exactly?"

"To break her from her prison."

Reyna felt as if she had been punched, and exchanged a look with Chiron, who made a three fingered gesture that Reyna didn't understand. "Chiron…"

"Tell them, Reyna."  
She nodded, and began the story of what had happened with Seymour and Miss Mist, all without taking her hand from Piper's as Chiron began to use a tincture from a bottle to try and revive Piper.

No one said a word as Reyna ended her sentence. "So is this a typical day in your neighborhood?" asked Reyna. "Or is this as weird for you as it is for me? Because, I don't know if it's the memory stuff or what, but I can count on one finger the amount of times that a supernatural lady has called me her warrior and essentially demanded that I rescue her without telling me who she is or why I needed to save her."

Percy shook his head "She called you her warrior," he began, "not her daughter."

"Correct," replied Reyna.

Percy frowned. "Didn't you say those wind spirits were working for a mistress? Maybe you're her warrior because you're supposed to be the one who defeats her. Maybe she's trying to get inside your head, confuse you."

"Her vernacular would indicate otherwise," said Reyna. "I can't see the logic of calling me her warrior if I were intended to defeat her when it would have been more sensible to call me her opponent. She mentioned prison, a king rising, and a powerful enemy. There's no reason she would give me this information if she was the king I was intended to defeat." Reyna frowned. "And even further, she probably wouldn't call herself king."

Percy suddenly looked terrified. "Not Kronos," he begged, "anything but Kronos."

"Be careful what you wish for," said Chiron as he checked Piper's pulse. "But no, not Kronos." Chiron closed his medicine bag, and ignored Percy's question. "Piper needs rest. We'll talk about this later."

"I think now would be better," said Reyna firmly. "How on earth is there something worse than the Titan army?"

Chiron, inexplicably, seemed to give a half laugh.

Rachel, however, looked as if an idea hit her. "Wait a second," she said, "wait, Chiron – Hera."

"Hera what?" Reyna asked.

"Her cabin – it was her! She's the one who took me over!"

Percy's eyes narrowed. "Because I didn't need another reason to beat that goddess in the –"

"Careful, Percy, watch how you threaten the queen of the gods, for that may be the last thing you ever do."

"I'm their golden boy," Percy said, voice oozing fatigue and exasperation, "they won't kill me until I give them everything they want."

Clearly there was some bitterness between Percy and the gods. Reyna would have to check that out at a later date. "Back to Hera," said Reyna. "That does seem right. She was proud, almost haughty. Sounds like a goddess' MO to me. And she was wearing a goatskin cloak." A memory nagged at the back of Reyna's mind. "That's Juno's symbol!"

"It is?" said Percy. "I didn't know that."

"Of Juno, her Roman state. She is more warlike," said Chiron.

"That means Hera's in a prison," said Rachel. "Who could do that?"

Percy, to everyone's surprise let out a laugh. "Annabeth'd get a kick out of this," he said with a strange little grin that looked almost painful for him. "Somebody shutting up Hera? That's her lifelong dream."

Chiron shot him a glare. "Calm yourself, Percy," he cautioned, "Hera's still an extremely important Olympian, maddening as she is. Her capture could shake the foundation of civilization for ages if this isn't addressed promptly and delicately."

"Delicate is the last word I'd use to describe Lady of the Bad Ideas," grumbled Rachel.

"Well a Titan can capture a goddess, like Atlas did to Artemis, so how do we even begin to think of something worse than a Titan?" asked Percy. He folded his arms across his chest, looking highly uncomfortable and dangerously close to fighting anyone who said the wrong thing.

Reyna, just to take her eyes away from Percy, who was beginning to worry her a bit, glanced over to Seymour. "She said she'd been gone for about a month," said Reyna quietly. "I don't know if that's relevant…"

"It is," replied Percy. "That's how long Olympus has been closed. The gods must know something awful is happening."

"Wouldn't be hard to tell," said Rachel. "I mean, Hera keeps a lot of the stability in the family. Without her, you can bet your last dollar that there's conflict."

Percy nodded. "They probably even had trouble deciding whether or not to even close Olympus."

"Why would they send me here though?" asked Reyna. "What am I expected to do? She took away my memory, meddled with Leo's and Piper's, and ripped me out of whatever my actual life is to throw me through a couple of hoops, just in case everything wasn't complicated enough. Why not just call the gods themselves with some sort of godlike firework? Why use a demigod like me?"

Rachel sighed. "The gods need demigods to do their dirty work."

"Which constantly ends up with us little people being prophesied to die or drowned in a massive lake of demons and evil," interjected Percy. "But Reyna, you're right. Why's your memory gone?"

"And why was Piper's altered?" asked Reyna, looking down at the girl still asleep on the couch.

"Well, clearly she's part of this," said Rachel. "I mean, Hera spoke through me with the intent of speaking to Piper. She said 'free me.'" Rachel turned to Percy, a grim look on her face. "And, Percy, I'd bet on anything that this has something to do with Annabeth's disappearance."

Percy turned to Chiron. "Why aren't you speaking?" he demanded. "What do you know?"

There was a brief silence as Percy looked at Chiron, but there was no anger in his face. It was desperation, the fear that he would never get back the girl he loved, and the holding out of a hope that Chiron would be able to fix everything. "I cannot help you with this, Percy," Chiron said solemnly.

The desperation and fear went nowhere, but the hopefulness dissolved in place of rage. Percy looked, at that moment, like the son of fire instead of the sea. The anger and frustration that had clearly been building since Annabeth had gone missing began to roll off of him in waves. "You can't keep secrets from me, Chiron," he said, his voice dangerously low. "You have no right. I've nearly died, Annabeth's nearly died, all for this camp. We fought to protect the gods, the world, hell, we fought to protect everything." He paused, his eyes closing. "Annabeth's gone, and you won't help me get her back."

Chiron's expression was resolute, but sympathetic. "I'm so sorry, Percy. But there is nothing I can do to assist you here. I have sworn." He turned to the others. "I must have some time on my own. Rachel, please look after Piper for now, and call Argus to take her to the infirmary if you don't believe you can take her there on your own." He turned to Percy. "I know the last thing you want to do right now is speak to anyone right now, but I need you to talk to Reyna, tell her about the Greek and Roman gods, and, for what it's worth…" Chiron turned from Percy and headed toward the door. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry I cannot help you."

Percy pounded a fist against the wall, and breathed unsteadily for a few moments. If Reyna wasn't so sure he was just waiting to lash out at the next thing that touched his nerve, she would have asked if he was crying.

"I'm sorry," said Reyna, not quite sure why she was apologizing. "I'm here and I think that messes things up. According to Chiron there was an oath he –"

"Oath my vescimini," Percy growled. "What oath? It must be one hell of an oath for him not to break it even for Annabeth."

"The way he speaks of her…It's like he's talking about a daughter."

Percy nodded. "He practically raised her." Percy ran a hand through his disheveled hair. "I just don't get it. Why does he want me to talk to you about the gods?"

Percy turned to the table, seeing Reyna's short sword.

"What kind of sword is that?" he said, sounding confused. "Got any idea where it's from?"

"Well if we're being literal, it started out as a hair clip in my pocket –" He fixed her with a glare, " – but other than that I have no idea."

Percy sighed. "Looks like we've got a lot of having no idea going around. Look, if Chiron won't help, then we're going to have to make some moves on our own. Let's go to see Clovis. Rachel, watch Piper."

Rachel nodded. "Of course. And…" She chanced a smile at Reyna. "I wish you luck, Reyna. I'll make sure Piper is okay."

Reyna nodded. "Of course."

As Percy and Reyna began their walk out of the Big House, Reyna turned to Percy. "So who's Clovis? My godly parent?"

Percy appeared to choke on air. "Oh, gods, no," he said with a laugh. "No, no, he's a camper." He snickered again. "Oh, but that's a hilarious thought."

"What is this then?"

"Cabin Fifteen," said Percy. "Cabin for the god of sleep. Controls the Lethe river, meddles with dreams, works with memories, which means they can possibly get your memories back."

"There's a river that wipes memories?" Reyna asked as they walked up to the door of the small and modest cabin. "Really?"

Percy nodded as he pushed the door open. "Wiped the memory of a Titan." He smiled wistfully at a memory. "I named him Bob. It was like remodeling a person back to being a toddler. Kind of funny, really."

While Percy was talking, Reyna had stepped into the cabin and had begun to doze off a bit. After a little more chatting, he noticed. "Whoa, snap out of it, Reyna." Percy snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Dude, no falling asleep. This place is a danger zone, even worse than the Ares cabin with its disguised barbed wire and the thorn bushes that line the windows of the Demeter cabin."

Reyna made the executive decision not to ask for more information and to never, ever go into either of those cabins.

"Yo, Clovis, wake up, man," said Percy, jostling a tiny little guy from his sleep. Reyna realized why Clovis being a parent was funny. The kid might have been fifteen, maximum, and he was little. The small boy had blonde, fluffy hair and a stocky body with thin, little limbs. This guy clearly was not going to fight Reyna's way into success.

"Clovis!" exclaimed Percy. "Ugh, wake UP!" His last word was punctuated by Percy yanking the pillow out from under Clovis' head.

Clovis jolted, and it couldn't have been pleasant. "W-what?" he said, sounding confused. "What's happening?" He yawned broadly, and Reyna suddenly found herself nearly overwhelmed with a desire to sleep.

"Quit that!" said Percy, hitting Clovis and Reyna with the pillow. Reyna knew she should have been mad, but she had to admit, the pillow did wake her up. "We need help."

"Did I tell you I planned on waking up?" he groaned, groping for the pillow that wasn't there.

"I'm not giving this back until you help me out," said Percy as he shook his pillow. He explained the problem, hitting Clovis and Reyna with the pillow every time they seemed to doze off, and Clovis stood when Percy was finished with the story.

"Nothing?" he asked. "You really remember nothing?"

"Bits and pieces, but nothing without some prompting."

Clovis smiled sleepily, and it occurred to Reyna that perhaps he had no other smile. "Then you, sit down."

Reyna opened her eyes. Apparently she had sat down, but she hadn't remembered doing so. And also, someone was talking.

"This is bad," she heard Clovis say.

"What just happened?" asked Reyna, sitting up, but still weary with sleep.

"You were out for a few minutes, but, um," Percy winced. "You almost, like, dissolved."

"Please tell me you don't mean literally."

Percy shrugged. "Then I won't tell you."

"Memories, usually, are lost or good reason. They fall below the surface, kind of like dreams, but often I can get them back but you…You're a new case."

Percy folded his arms, dropping the pillow on the bed. "So was she wiped by Lethe?"

Clovis shook his head. "This is even more than Lethe. She'd be wiped so cleanly she probably wouldn't even remember her name or how to dress herself properly."

"Thank the gods I didn't have to deal with that with Bob," muttered Percy.

"What?" asked Clovis.

"Nothing, sorry. What were you saying?"

"Her memories were stolen."

A silence swept over the room. "So, what," said Reyna, "somebody just reached into my brain and handpicked what I needed to not know?"

"Not someone," said Percy. "Hera."

"Any reason for that?" asked Clovis.

"Well, we think it might have been Hera as Juno who did it."

"Helpful," said Clovis. "How is that supposed to make any difference?"

Percy frowned. "I mean, maybe it's just that they're the same god. I don't know."

"Well, there are some gods that are only Roman. But even some of the Greek gods change major characteristics and personality traits when the shifted to the Roman deities."

"How does that change who they are?" asked Percy. "You live a millennia and go 'hey, you know what? I'm going to try that punk rock phase!' and convince a bunch of teenage idiots that screaming into microphones for attention is a great way to make money?"

Clovis blinked. "Are you suggesting that one of the members of Fall Out Boy is secretly one of the Olympians?"

Percy rolled his eyes. "Just explain."

"They got more warlike in Rome. They changed. I mean, Zeus didn't have an all-access pass to reality shows back in Ancient Greece. Tastes and attitudes towards things change."

"And you know this how?"

Clovis shrugged. "I spend a lot of time dreaming. Like once, I was onstage with Michael Jackson. And once I was in a Nicki Minaj video, but I forgot the lyrics to Super Bass and she told me I wasn't booty shaking enough –" One look from Percy, and Clovis shut up. Reyna fought back a giggle.

"So the Romans were harsher and more powerful, the gods of a massive empire."

"So they were like, the Mr. Hyde to the Greek gods' Dr. Jekyll?" asked Percy. "Well, in that case –"

"No, no," replied Clovis. "They stood for discipline, honor and strength. They were still good, just more orderly." He blushed. "And less likely to, uh, sleep with everything that moved."

"They had goals of upholding the laws and duties of leaders," said Reyna, not quite sure why she was speaking. "They took to heart the responsibilities of an empire, made themselves easy to model after so that humans could follow in their paths."

Clovis and Percy turned to Reyna. "That's…Pretty much true. But the Roman gods weren't the kind of people you'd call to babysit your kids. My father, Hypnos? He was called Somnus in Roman times. He used to kill people who fell asleep on the job."

"Cool," said Percy, sounding like he thought it was decidedly uncool. "But what's this got to do with Reyna?"

"No idea," said Clovis. "But if your memory was taken by Hera, then only Hera can get it back for you. Can I sleep now?"

Percy nodded. "Thanks. See you later?"

Clovis fell face first into his pillow and mumbled something incoherent.

"Will he be okay?" Reyna asked. "Something tells me even demigods can't breathe through pillows."

"And something tells me even demigods can't easily deal with memory loss," said Percy, with a sideways smile in her direction, "but that's not stopping you."


	5. Daughter of War

_A/N: So there are a few things in this chapter that have been tweaked and twisted to fit the right needs I had for the story. I very much hope that my own personal canon is well integrated with the existing canon in the Heroes of Olympus series, and I hope that this chapter is enjoyed by all who read it!_

_Read, review, and I really hope you all enjoy this. _

* * *

"So let's give you a tour of camp that doesn't involve you getting mauled by a stuffed leopard," said Percy. "We'll start out with the greatest of all cabins, and that's all you really need to see."

With an exuberant gesture, Percy grinned and pointed to a slightly green, well made, clearly ocean themed cabin. It made Reyna slightly uncomfortable.

Percy's face fell. "You don't like it?" he asked, looking remarkably like a kicked puppy.

"I just…I don't think I like water very much," muttered Reyna, trying not to meet Percy's eyes.

He sighed. "That's highly disappointing," he said, "seeing as I'm the kid of Poseidon."

"I don't dislike you!" she said, feeling awkward. "It's just…Me and water, I don't think they mix."

Percy shrugged. "Well I'm still only 70% water, just like a normal human. I'm completely average except for the demigod part."

Reyna furrowed her eyebrows. "Alright then." Before she was sure what was going on Percy had slung an arm around her shoulders and, with a big smile, was walking her toward the camp fire. "Come on, it's almost dinner time."

"Can I sit with you?" she asked. "I mean, I'd sit with Leo, but I think he probably wants to bond with his new family."

Percy moved his arm as they kept walking, and an uncomfortable expression took over the smile. "Well, actually…No."

Reyna started. "Oh," she said carefully. "Tha-that's alright, I mean I'm sure you have your own friends –"

"No, that's not it!" Percy replied. "It's just, to eat dinner, you have to sit at the tables assigned to you by which god or goddess is your parent."

Reyna nodded slowly. "And since I don't actually have a godly parent so far –"

"You get to sit by Chiron at the head of the table. Argus sits there too – and Nico every once in a while, since he's never here enough to actually get his own table." Percy paused. "I still try to figure out why we have a cabin for Hades but no table but, hey, not my job."

Percy continued to talk about everything from sneaker designs to the time that he and Annabeth had had their date interrupted by Hermes.

"So," said Reyna, jumping in at one point where Percy needed to pause to breathe. "You're kind of ADD aren't you?"

Percy grinned broadly. "Alas, Reyna, it is my greatest struggle in life."

"Struggle?"

Percy shrugged. "I nearly failed sixth grade. But then I met Annabeth and…" His sentence trailed off and he sighed so deeply Reyna was afraid he'd manage to expel his own lungs. "Yeah. She's the smart one."

The two walked in an awkward, charged silence until they got to the tables. Luckily, not too many people were already there. "Hi, Chiron," said Reyna. "Percy told me that this is where I will be sitting."

Chiron nodded. "Anything for a guest, my dear. Come, take the seat of honor."

Percy snorted. Reyna turned to him, raising an eyebrow. "I don't think I get the joke," she said.

"It's just," Percy snickered and tried to calm himself, "um, that was Mr. D's seat, and, um, calling it the seat of honor –" He interrupted himself with a fit of laughter, and Chiron stared at him until he stopped. "I'll go away now."

Chiron rolled his eyes as he laughed and turned back to Reyna. "Have a seat, Reyna."

"Is Mr. D going to kill me?"

"N – well, most likely no."

"Most likely?"

"Well, he is Dionysus, so the likelihood of him killing anyone is far lower than most of the other gods. Well, probably."

Without trying to decipher what that meant, Reyna sat down.

Chiron stood, smiling. "Hello, campers!" he announced. "Though it is a winter meeting, I am glad to see those who were able to come to camp for their school break, if only briefly. I trust you've all been informed of the fact that we have three new campers. Piper is still incapacitated, but hopefully she will be well enough to come visit us for the campfire. Reyna, Leo, would you please stand to introduce yourselves?"

That would explain why Reyna couldn't see Piper as she sat in the crowd of Aphrodite kids. It disappointed her.

Leo grinned and waved at everyone. "Hey, peeps," he declared happily, "how's it hanging?"

Reyna, however, opted for a smile and a wave. She, it seemed, was not one to speak to announce herself. Usually, she felt, people would simply quiet when she walked into the room.

Dinner was quick yet delicious, and Reyna was very pleased with the delivery system of the meal. Her orange juice tasted like home, even though she didn't know where home was or what it meant. It comforted her.

When it was time for the campfire, Percy galloped up to the larger head table and brought Reyna to sit down next to him.

"So what's this part?" Reyna asked.

"Oh, discussions, songs, talking about imminent disaster. The regular things for Camp Half Blood."

Reyna nodded, feeling a little distressed. "Good to know."

For a while, she made the effort to search for Piper. She knew it was futile, but she just wanted to know where the other girl was.

"Looking for Piper?" asked Percy, fighting a grin.

Reyna shrugged. "Maybe."  
"Look to your left."

Reyna turned and saw Rachel approaching with Piper. Reyna grinned and waved, and Piper, looking surprised, waved back.

"Well then, time to have some discussions about the recent events," said Chiron. "W –"

"Let's start out with Tweedles Dee, Dum, and Bad Hair over here," said Drew, jerking her head in Reyna's direction. The camp froze. Apparently the introduction of these new campers was a thorn in her side. The other people didn't seem to have expected her into speak in front of everyone.

"And what about activities?" called a kid from the opposite side of the fire.

"I know everyone, most importantly the Ares cabin, Clarisse, is anxious to get back to activities, but –"

"Well some cabin is taking too long figuring things out."

Leo, who was sitting next to a bunch of big, strong looking campers, shrunk back a bit as half the camp looked over to him and his siblings. "We're working on it," announced a small yet burly girl.

"Not hard enough," demanded an Ares kid.

"Don't even try to give me that," she grumbled.

The camp exploded into angry complaints and shouts, which didn't end until Chiron began pounding his hooves into the ground.

"This is not the most pressing issue," said Chiron, his voice carrying throughout the camp.

"Annabeth?" someone asked. The fires dimmed, responding, Reyna guessed, to the anxiety spreading through the camp.

Percy stood, folding his arms over his chest. "I didn't find Annabeth –"

"Obviously. You two aren't all over each other, if she were here you two would probably be nakend." said Drew, rolling her eyes.

"Nobody asked you, Drew," called somebody from the Hephaestus cabin. Reyna realized, by the way Leo was trying to hide his face, that it must have been him.

Percy cleared his throat. "Anyway, we're not giving up. She may not be at the Grand Canyon, but she's got to be somewhere. Everyone available is searching for her. She's not going to get away from us this easily. We'll find her. But Chiron's talking about something different."

"It's the Great Prophecy," said Clarisse, shrugging. "Is it really only obvious to me, or are you idiots going to open your eyes sometime today?"

Reyna felt like she'd been hit. Was it really okay for people to be this rude? Something about this felt really wrong.

"Hey, quit it, Clarisse," said Percy. "Try that again without sounding like you want to get punched in the face."

"Annabeth's gone, Olympus is closed, and hey, I don't know, Hera sends you to pick up a couple of strays, leading you there by telling you you'd get information about Princess. Something's going down and, knowing our luck, it's the Great Prophecy."

Reyna saw Piper lean over to talk to Rachel, and she was nearly sure she was wondering the same thing that Reyna was: is the Great Prophecy something they should already know about?

"Hey Oracle," called Drew, "you know all this stuff. Is this the Great Prophecy or what?"

Rachel stood and closed her eyes. "The Great Prophecy has begun."

All hell broke loose.

Reyna looked over at Piper, who looked bewildered. Reyna couldn't blame her – the person she was sitting with was now standing and looking all wise.

Reyna smiled at her, and Piper calmed and smiled back softly. She wished she hadn't noticed it, but Piper was just so pretty. Piper looked away from her soon after though, the smile fading away. It shouldn't have, but it hurt.

"For those of you who are unaware of the specifics of the Great Prophecy," said Rachel, "I will recite it for you:

_"Seven half-bloods shall answer the call._

_ "To storm or fire the world must fall –"_

As Rachel spoke, Reyna felt as if something was flooding through her body. She knew these words, as familiar to her as a lullaby.

"Whoa, Reyna!" said Rachel. "What are you –"

Before she knew what she was doing, Reyna was on her feet, beginning to speak. "_Ut cum spiritu postrema sacramentum dejuremus, Et hostes ornamenta addent ad ianuam necem."_

The camp went uncomfortably silent, and Reyna felt as uncomfortable as she would feel had she stripped naked in front of the entire camp and started singing Britney Spears.

"You just finished the prophecy," said Rachel, staring at Reyna. "How did you just finish the prophecy?"

Reyna, half stunned, shook her head. "I – I have no idea," she said. "But I've heard that before, I know it." Unable to figure out what else to do, Reyna slowly sat down onto the bench beside Percy, who patted her shoulder. She chanced a small smile up at Piper, but Piper wasn't looking at her.

"Anyway…" Rachel began. "Well, the first great prophecy predicted Percy," she nodded over toward him, "so this second one? I'm pretty sure we're in for something just as bad."

"Or worse," said Percy and Chiron at the same time. It was clear that neither of them intended for the rest of the camp to hear, but it was clear from the way the fire darkened to purple that they had.

"All we know for sure is that Annabeth's gone and Hera's been taken from the gods," said Rachel.

All hell broke loose again, the rest of the camp clamoring with chatter. Rachel had to wait a few moments before speaking again.

Once the chatter had stopped, Rachel explained everything that had happened, she turned to Reyna. "Do you know your last name?"

Reyna shook her head, avoiding all eyes. "Well, Reyna No-Name –"

"No using that joke," said Percy.

Reyna and Rachel turned to him. He shrunk down in his chair. "Long story."

"Anyway, Reyna, you have been issued a quest by Hera, to go save her from whatever is keeping her captive. Do you accept?"

Reyna nodded. "Yes. I accept."

"You will be required to save Hera to prevent some king from rising, and you must do it before the winter solstice."

Percy interjected next. "The gods will realize she's gone when they get together to talk. They'll all end up fighting with each other, trying to accuse the other of committing the crime."

"And it must be done by that day also, because that is the day that then ancient and dangerous things of the world stir."

Reyna couldn't be sure, but it appeared that Chiron looked horribly worried. Percy, on the other hand, looking as if he were fighting a powerful eye roll.

"What's so important about this chick?" shouted the girl name Clarisse from the Ares cabin. "She hasn't even been claimed yet. How come she gets to go on a quest?"

"Can it, Clary," shouted somebody else across the campfire.

"She has been claimed, but not recently," said Chiron calmly. "And we need someone to show of whom she is the daughter."

"Won't she just get a little thing above her head, like me?" asked Leo.

Chiron shook her head. "That has already happened. We need a catalyst, a reaction to cause her to use her powers. She won't be getting one of those symbols ever again." He turned to the boy sitting next to Reyna. "Percy," said Chiron calmly, "attack Reyna."

"What?" he and Reyna said at the same time.

"Do it."

In a flash, Reyna's and Percy's hands flew to their pockets as they pulled out their weapons. Reyna was doing absolutely nothing on her own – it was as if all actions were on instinct, her body and brain disconnected. Reyna's hand flipped the hair pin, and this time the sword turned into a spear with a logo she did not recognize. Percy's sword flashed in the air, and Reyna's twisted. The two of them began to battle, Reyna deflecting Percy's stabs with the tip of her spear until his sword was at her neck and her spear point was about to hit his jugular vein.

"What, is she supposed to be one of us?" laughed Clarisse. "She doesn't look like an Ares kid. She's not even that aggressive."

Reyna tried to stay out of the conversation, as she had no idea what actually was happening. Ares? That didn't even sound right. If she had to guess, she would have assumed that her mother had been the one with godlike DNA.

Then, breaking a silence that had lasted for a few moments, someone spoke. "Enyo," said a redheaded boy sitting next to a bunch of children from the Athena cabin. "Your mother must be Enyo."

Chiron nodded slowly. "Essentially, yes, Malcolm. Reyna is the daughter of the war goddess."

Malcolm stood. "Then we can't trust her."

All eyes turned to him.

"Dude, what do you mean?" asked Percy, looking confused. "We usually like the Ares campers. Why can't we like a war goddess' kid?"

"Have you thought of why we don't have a cabin for the children of Enyo?" said Malcolm. "She helped not only Zeus, but Typhon in the first war of the Titans! She hasn't had children since then – she promised never to do so in exchange of getting a reprieve for helping Typhon in the war."

"He's right," said a small blonde girl next to him. "Enyo hasn't even been integrated into the Greek system for years. No children, no interaction, even the Ares campers rarely if ever see her."

"Yeah," said Clarisse. "I don't even know who she is. Who is Enyo, Rhiannon?"

"Sister of Ares," said the girl with the blonde hair. "She works with warfare, revels in violence." She turned to Reyna. "I'm sorry, but why should we trust you when you are everything we're trying to fight off with the last Typhon war?"

Chiron turned to them. "She is more than what you think," said the centaur. "Do not underestimate her skill, and do not underestimate her kindness." Chiron walked next to Reyna, resting a hand on her shoulder. "This girl is a leader. She will revitalize the faith in this camp, and you will hopefully understand her place in this camp." He turned to look at Reyna. "And I do hope that you, my dear, will find your place here as well."

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_A/N2: Everything about Enyo other than her involvement in the first Titan War is made up by me for the canon of this story. I hope it made sense, and if clarification is required I will likely go further into my idea in a later chapter. Love you all! _


	6. Secrets Revealed

_A/N: Another slightly shorter chapter, but I hope it's good enough! I'm glad people liked the Enyo bit of the last chapter – that was tough to organize, and I was worried it wouldn't come out correctly. However, my fears were taken away because of you awesome reviewers. : ) Thanks guys!_

_I hope you enjoy this chapter!_

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"But how do we know she's not going to betray us?" called one of the campers from Ares. "She worked for the Titan side!"

"Once upon a time, her MOTHER worked for the first Titan War."

"And where was Enyo this summer?" asked a kid from the Hermes cabin. "I mean, I know a lot of the smaller gods went to the side of the Titans, but why didn't anyone call on Enyo?"

"Travis, please, do not go accusing a goddess of –"

"He's right, Chiron!" a taller boy, sitting alone but with a few grapes in his hands, stood. "We've lost friends, siblings, twins in this war. How can we accept someone who's mother –"

"Stop!" Piper's voice rang out across the camp fire. "Despite the fact that Reyna's mother may or may not have done horrible things in the past, it doesn't change the fact that Reyna's just a kid here, like all of us, who gets punished for things the gods do." The camp began to settle, and Reyna felt like fewer people were preparing to draw their swords and kill her on sight.

Percy stood next to Reyna. "Piper's right. My father's caused death after death, forced Agamemnon to kill his own daughter as a sacrifice –" He paused, clearly struggling with what he was saying. "Among other things. You people all saw what I did to save the world, alongside Annabeth, whose mother has done some pretty awful things as well, and alongside Chiron, whose father, well…" He looked over at Chiron, who nodded. "Chiron's father was the Titan we were all fighting to destroy." As the news settled over the camp, and campers began to understand the magnitude of Percy's words, Reyna just stood there without half a clue of what was going on. Vague, fragmented ideas of Greek mythology flitted through her mind, but each name seemed wrong someone, like the titles of characters in a book were replaced with others. "I guess what I'm trying to say that I hope all of you know that judging the children of a god is kind of dumb, seeing as the people who helped save us all were the children of Kronos." He shrugged, sat down, and then the entire camp settled.

Piper sat as well, shooting a smile in Reyna's direction.

"Thank you for that, Percy," said Reyna.

"So, back to the prophecy," said Chiron.

Rachel stepped forward again, all eyes on her. "Right, of course. Well, Reyna has a lot on her plate. She has to…" Her words trailed and her eyes shut as she lost her balance and collapsed into the arms of two campers who rushed toward her to catch her. Another camper returned with a bronze stool and sat it behind her as the others lowered her into the chair.

Reyna nearly fell over as she saw glowing green light explode from the eyes of the Oracle, and then Rachel began to speak.

_"Child of war's queen, beware the earth,_

_ The giants' revenge the seven shall birth,_

_ The forge and the dove shall break the cage,_

_ And death unleash through Hera's rage."_

Reyna watched as Rachel collapsed into the arms of the campers, who took her back to her seat and made their effort to revive her.

"Does that usually happen?" asked Piper, her voice quieter and much more timid than it had been before, when she had commanded the whole camp.

"Yeah," said Drew, voice poisoned with vindictive sarcasm, "we have an epidemic of green light. Don't get too close or you'll get stuck with it."

"Oh, Drew, stop being so annoying, it's not a good look for you," said Percy. "Piper's right. This is a weird prophecy. Why do we want to set Hera free if it's unleashing death or something? We don't want any more people to die – we've had enough of that." Percy rolled his eyes. "And, if you ask me, keeping Hera quiet is a good thing."

Chiron sighed and shot Percy a look. "I know you have quite the personal vendetta against Hera, Percy, but need I remind you of the dangers of provoking such a volatile goddess?"

"Yeah," said Nyssa, "she threw our father off Olympus just because he's ugly."

"Looks like those genes got passed down," said Drew with a snicker.

"Shut up," snapped Nyssa. "We have more important things to think about. Why do we have to beware the earth? And the giants' revenge? What could be so powerful that it could kidnap the queen of the gods?"

Percy and Chiron looked at each other, but even though Reyna was inches from both of them, she had no idea what was happening.

"Well," said Percy, "it's obviously Reyna's quest. She's got to be the child of war's queen. So, Reyna – you can pick two people to go with you."

"Well, duh," called Travis, "it's you, Percy. You're the savior of the world and stuff. You always complete all quests with flying colors."

Percy laughed. "Yeah, right, like Hera wants me to have anything to do with this. She'd kill me the second she saw me – hates me because of Annabeth and all. And besides, tomorrow morning I'm leaving to look for Annabeth. I know her better than anyone – I'm the most likely person to find her after all of this. I'll see if I can find her, then we'll get her brain to help us get this figured out."

Piper stood. "It's all connected," she said. "You all see that, right?"

The resounding silence seemed to worry her slightly. "You don't see that. Okay. Well, I mean, Annabeth's gone, Reyna's just randomly here. It's got to be connected."

"If you're such a genius, then how is this happening?" asked Drew, folding her arms across her chest aggressively. Reyna really didn't like how much this girl enjoyed challenging Piper.

Piper just stared and frowned, not responding. She fiddled with her hands, looked away, and Reyna sent a glare over in Drew's direction.

"She's probably right," said Percy, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Piper, if everything's connected, I'll figure it out by looking at Annabeth's end. Knowing her, she's probably got it all figured out already. But I'm not going anywhere near Hera. That's not the kind of person I should have any contact with. And besides, go over the prophecy again. Nothing about a sea god there."

The camp began to murmur.

"I choose," said Reyna, commanding attention. "Forge and the dove. Those are Vul-I mean, Hephaestus' and Aphrodite's symbols, right?"

Nyssa sighed deeply. "Well, we're going to have some problems if you don't have someone from Hephaestus. You'll need air transport since the earth is apparently a problem."

"Another reason I'm going nowhere near this quest," Percy muttered next to Reyna.

"The flying chariot's broken," continued Nyssa, "and Percy's commandeered the Pegasi to look for Annabeth, so we're sort of out of options. If you want me to though, I'll go. I'm senior camper now that Jake's out of commission." She looked downtrodden, hopeless. "I might be able to get something prepared for us before we go, though."

Leo stood, looking right at Reyna. "It's me," he said simply. "I'm the one who's supposed to go." There was some chatter, but Leo's spark came back in his speech as he heard some people begin to fight his comment. "No, I know what to do. I've got an idea!"

Reyna looked at him for a few moments, trying to figure him out. There really was no reason to exclude Leo, and he'd been part of Reyna's memory-less life the whole time so far. "That sounds right, Leo. You've been by my side this whole time, why stop now?"

Leo lit up like a firework. "Really? I mean, yeah, of course. I can do that." He smiled a little brighter. "I can get you some transportation, I swear."

Reyna nodded. "Well, we've got the forge down. Now about the dove."

"I'll totally go," said Drew with a grin. "About time someone with a decent power got to go on a quest."

"Hey!" said Percy, looking upset.

"What decent power?" asked Reyna.

"Charmspeak. Watch." Drew turned to Clovis, mostly asleep on a log, and said, in a rich, deep voice that worried Reyna, "get up and sing to us, Clovis. You know you want to. Pick whatever song you like. Just dance."

Clovis, as if in a trance, stood and began to dance. "Got that boom ba doom boom bass, he got that super bass –"

"Clovis, stop!" exclaimed Piper. She turned to Drew. "That's horrible! Why would you make someone do whatever you want them to? It's taking away someone's autonomy."

"Ooh, big words from the new kid," Drew scoffed. "And what are your special powers, Piper? Scare people to death with your rat's nest of a hairstyle?"

Piper drew her breath and immediately seemed to regain the confidence and strength she had had beforehand. "You realize I got the vision of Hera, right? I'm supposed to do this!" There was a power and strength in her voice that gave her a higher power, an ability to convince others. It was not unlike Drew's, but it seemed less malicious in intent.

"Of course," said Drew, "because you're so skilled, Dumpster Queen."

"I'm the one who's supposed to go!"

Then suddenly something changed, something huge.

Piper had transformed. Dark hair in a perfect braid, makeup accenting her features in a subtle yet effective way. Her eyes were like gemstones glittering in the firelight, and Reyna simply couldn't take her eyes off of her.

Piper, looking horrified, drew her blade and looked at herself in its reflection, making a displeased, worried little noise Reyna was pretty sure she didn't know she'd made.

"What in the…?"

"You're gorgeous, Piper," said Reyna, unaware of the words leaving her mouth. "You're simply…Stunning."

Drew, on the other hand, was raving mad. "This is impossible!" Drew screeched. "How in the – she can't be – ugh!" she threw herself back onto the log she had been sitting on and looked as if someone had told her Christmas was cancelled for eternity.

"All hail Piper McLean," said Chiron, down on one knee, "daughter of Aphrodite, lady of the doves and goddess of love."

Piper still looked horrified. "Why?" she squeaked.

Reyna, out of the corner of her eye, saw Leo leave the campsite.

This would not be an easy few days.

* * *

Getting a place for Reyna to sleep wasn't particularly easy. Enyo, not having any children and not even being part of the discussion of redeeming the children of the minor gods and goddesses, never wanted a cabin.

Thus, Reyna had nowhere to sleep.

"You can bunk with me!" said Rachel. "It'll be fun, like a sleepover!"

Reyna, making her best effort to be kind, said, "I'm not sure you'll want me as a slumber party partner. I'm not the greatest sleeper." Reyna blinked. That was right. She was a fidgety sleeper, and remembered kicking someone as they slept next to each other. Unfortunately, she could not recall a name or a face.

"Hey!" said Rachel, a big grin on her face. "You remember something! That's good, isn't it?"

Reyna nodded, and allowed herself a smile, though it was much smaller than Rachels. "It is good."

Chiron walked into the living area of the Big House, where Reyna and Rachel were sitting.

"I've made up a guest bedroom for you," he said. "And I hope you enjoyed your hot chocolate."

Reyna looked down into her now empty cup. "I did, very much."

Reyna made her way into the little room with the bed made up for her, and slid under the covers. Sleep took her almost instantly, but there would be no dreamless rest for her that night

* * *

When Reyna slept, she dreamt of wolves. Wolves demanding help, wolves telling her what to do, but these wolves did not seem malicious. Opening her eyes to the scene before her, she began to recognize her surroundings. She was somewhere she knew.

"I know this spot," she said.

The wolf at the front of the pack eyed her. _Of course you do. You came here, briefly, to train after losing something dear to you. You must restart again from here, begin you story a second time from this point._

"That's not fair!" countered Reyna.

_Conquer or die: this is always and will always be our way. Do you suddenly have a problem with the laws of the ancients?_ The she-wolf stared at her, challenging her and asking her for her opinion at the same time. Reyna didn't fell as if there was any sense in rising to her challenge.

This wolf had guided her as a child, when she was young. Her name was Lupa, and she would fight for Reyna until Reyna gave up the fight. Reyna's resolve determined the outcome of this meeting.

She was struck with a strange feeling of abandonment as she studied the wolf. "You took me in," Reyna said quietly. "When – when I lost something." Reyna screwed her eyes shut, trying to bring a memory to the surface. "No – when I was lost."

She could not be weak. Reyna's strength was one of her most identifying characteristics – that was one thing she knew. This wolf would accept nothing less than the greatest strength Reyna could muster.

_Yes, you were, once upon a time,_ said the wolf. _And now you are again._

"And this time I am to find something. I have to find and rescue something…" Reyna paused, grasping for the information. "Someone."

The wolf nodded and the world faded to a vision of two giant spires rising from a surface on the ground, one encaging a distressed figure.

"Hera," said Reyna, entranced by the struggling goddess.

The she-wolf nodded. _This is the place where Juno has been captured, where the enemy has decided to destroy the meaning of this place of ours. This is where demigods are claimed, where they become the fighters and warriors they are meant to be. They are turning this site into an abomination. _The wolf looked into Reyna's eyes, and Reyna saw years and years of pain, struggle, and battle there. This wolf had lost many in training, and even more in war. Though Lupa would never admit it, she did not want to see Reyna lost. _Do not let them take our sacred place. Stop her._

"Her? The person holding Juno is a her?" Reyna asked.

Lupa nodded. _If Juno falls, our enemy will rise. We cannot allow this enemy to be victorious. Save the queen of the gods. Before we lose the option._

"I will, I swear," promised Reyna. "But tell me one thing – who am I?"

_You are the leader of the pack, the younger sister always destined for greatness._ said Lupa, a strange smile on her wolf face. _Do not fail, daughter of Bellona._

Reyna woke to the feeling of a cold blade at her throat.


	7. Intruder

_A/N: Hey remember two years ago when I got jelly beans for Christmas and got all wacky when I wrote? Guess whose father picked up jellybeans! Just to set the tone for my day. It's been insane._

_Anyway, I apologize for the wait. I've had some seriously crazy days in the past week such as my friend's 21__st__ and 3 days in Boston, so I'm finally getting some writing time!_

_I hope you guys like the chapter – love you all!_

* * *

Reyna flailed and drew her clip, snapping it into a sword.

No one was there.

Sure someone had been threatening her, she sat up and stared around the room, her heart beating rapidly as she tried to calm herself, to no avail.

"Hello?" she called. "I'll have you know, I'm armed and sleep deprived. I don't know about you but in my book that's a horrible combination."

The silence and emptiness of the room did not reply.

Reyna turned and stood, looking back at the bed. She would have sworn someone had been attempting to kill her. She knew that feeling. She knew the sharp bite of cold metal on sensitive skin. She knew the fear of the impermanence of life brought about by that kind of vulnerability. In that moment she decided she hated sleeping.

"Who are you?" she demanded of the room.

_You'll find out soon enough._

Reyna jumped about eight feet. No one was supposed have responded.

"Answer me," said Reyna, breathing deeply, "or you'll regret it."

_You can't threaten a voice in your head,_ replied the voice that, apparently, was in Reyna's head. _When you hear me the second time, you'll be less likely to jump like that. More like you'll be scared stiff. Your girlfriend's going to try and fight me though. It'll be great. _The voice laughed coldly, and Reyna began spinning to try to see where it was coming from, even though she knew it was in her own head, had settled in her bones like a frost on a winter day.

"Why can't I just see you now?"

_It's not time yet, but you will come see me – and you will regret it._

With a feeling like being pulled out of a lake, Reyna felt the presence leave her room and her mind, and she tried to keep herself from shaking with just how horrible it had felt.

Trying to calm herself, Reyna lowered herself back into her bed. With a glance out of the window, she saw that it was still dark out. At least she would have a few more hours of sleep before going off on the quest.

She also, strangely enough, saw that Piper's cabin had a few lights on. The night before, she had attempted to ignore the fact that she had easy visibility toward the Aphrodite cabin, as it very unfortunately reminded her of the awkward conversation they had had right after Reyna had called Piper stunning and she had acted like an all around idiot.

* * *

After she saw Leo leave and the entire campsite had devolved into random chatter in the outskirts of the fire, Reyna walked over to Piper, who was still absent mindedly brushing at her arms and hair, as if it would just go away.

Reyna waved and Piper waved back, albeit slightly more angrily than one would expect, as Reyna walked over.

"I just wanted to formally ask you to join us on the quest, said Reyna. "I think you're the person we want. No, I know you're the person we want." Reyna scoffed. "Especially since Drew? So much no. I'm almost positive you'd never use your charmspeak to influence other people, like a certain sister of yours."

Piper shuddered in a way that reminded Reyna of the way a dog would shake off water. Dogs – she'd had dogs before.

Blinking a bit, she returned herself to reality. "What was that?" Reyna asked.

"I said I can't believe I'm related to…to that wench," said Piper.

"Yeah," said Reyna, "daughter of Aphrodite, huh?" There was an awkward wall between the two girls, something that had been there since Reyna had, stupidly, proclaimed that Piper was not only gorgeous, but also stunning in front of the entire camp.

"Yeah," grumbled Piper, fiddling with her hair. "Look at this," she said, tugging on the long, thick, perfect hair that fell over her shoulder and framed her face. "I look pretty."

Reyna fought back a small laugh. "What's wrong with looking pretty?"

Piper sighed. "It's not just looking pretty – it looks like I tried to look pretty. It's not even real. I just look like some absolute goofball who spends ninety percent of her day in front of a mirror." She rubbed her lips with the back of her hand. "Like someone whose entire life is based on their appearance. It's despicable."

"Aw, come on," said Reyna, "you look – more than pretty. You look beautiful." With the last word, Reyna, reached out and settled an arm on Piper's bare shoulder.

It was like a jolt went through her, and she and Piper both leapt apart.

"I – thanks," Piper said, sounding a bit shaken. "I just – can't I have been the daughter of Athena?" She frowned, and tilted her gaze to the ground. "Or at least somebody cooler. Like you. You're the daughter of a warrior goddess. You're – you're brave." She glared at a tree that had either offended her or she had claimed as the scapegoat for her irritation. "I love people and talk funny. Whoo-hoo."

Reyna shrugged. "Maybe the charmspeak will come in handy in the future. Like you'll have to tell someone to run away instead of fight us."

Piper scoffed. "Yeah, I'll talk evil to death." She put on a goofy voice, sticking her hip out and waving her hands around dramatically. "Yeah, like, so, I'm a vapid narcissist with an inability to relate to people beyond the discussion of makeup, appearance, and celebrity subculture!" She frowned even harder. "This is ridiculous."

Reyna wasn't quite sure what to say. "Look, Piper, it's okay. You're supposed to be part of this quest, you know?"

"But what if I mess it up?" Piper said quietly, as if she wasn't saying it to anyone but herself. "I'm – I'm convinced I'll ruin it for everyone."

Reyna wanted to do something to help, but she knew nothing she did would be quite right. Her heart felt agonized when Piper looked at her. It was as if that was a moment Reyna used to pull her in for a hug, or tell her some platitude that would half help, or kiss her to distract from the problem, but that was back when memories were a given. Now they're not, and Piper's probably weren't even real.

"You're going to kick evil goddess lady butt," said Reyna.

Piper went to smile but instead shivered violently, her teeth chattering so hard Reyna actually winced. It had to have been painful.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Piper shrugged. "Mom took my jacket. Like cold is supposed to be haute couture or something. All I want is a damned coat."

Reyna grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around Piper. "There," she said, "not a coat, really, but close."

"It must be coat couture if my mom isn't magically poofing it off of me," grumbled Piper.

Reyna laughed. "Do you usually make random puns or is that a gift from your mother too?"

"I've always been snarky," replied Piper. "I don't think my mom's attempt to make me girly will ever make me enjoy being nice to everyone on the planet."

Reyna grinned. "I hear you."

A silence overtook them, and Reyna would have bet her funky new weapon that Piper's mind was reeling with the same things Reyna's was: would they survive, how would they survive, and would they ever get back.

Piper took a deep breath and shrugged. "Whatever," she said with a forced grin. "I'm warm now and I'm not feeling the need to kick Drew anymore. We'll figure everything out, won't we, Reyna?" She stuck out her hand to shake Reyna's, and even with all the memory loss and loss of familiarity it felt formal enough to feel goofy.

Reyna shook Piper's hand with exaggeration and laughed. "Yes we will."

* * *

The next time Reyna woke, the only thing she felt was a strange sort of longing as she realized she'd fallen asleep to thoughts of herself and Piper going on the quest together. It had created some bizarre dreams that were half the two of them running around beating people up and being fantastic fighters, and half dreams involved Piper and Leo doing the polka while Reyna conducted a symphony of kittens with violins to play an instrumental version of La Cucaracha.

Something told her that last part was not one of those prophetic demigod dreams Percy had mentioned offhandedly after dinner.

She rolled over, only to see Rachel standing there with a pile of clothes and the biggest grin on her face Reyna had ever seen.

"Oh my GODS!" screeched Reyna, having half of a heart attack as she lost her balance and rolled off of the bed. "Why did you – how did you…?" She spluttered for a few moments. "DID YOUR PARENTS FORGET TO TEACH YOU HOW TO KNOCK?!"

"My parents taught me how to hail a cab when I was six after they forgot me at a benefit for homeless children once," said Rachel, still looking cheery, "but I do not recall being specifically taught to knock." She shrugged. "Blame my upbringing. Raised by wolves and all that."

Reyna suddenly was shot back to the dream she had had the night before. The wolf Lupa and her cryptic messages –

She was a daughter of Bellona.

…Whatever that meant.

"Right, wolves, of course. Do you know where Chiron is?"

Rachel nodded. "He's making sure breakfast is ready. Also you might want to think about putting on clothes and showering before anything happens. I don't think Chiron would be too pleased to see you running out in that."

Reyna looked down. The night before Rachel had loaned her a pair of pajama pants and a tank top that said "New York Associaton of Young Artists," but it appeared Reyna's sleeping mind rejected the idea of pants.

"Oh," she said, blushing red. "That. Right. I'll just…"

Rachel put the outfit down on the chair and walked out of the room. Reyna, on the other hand, just began wondering when her life became this confusing and realized the answer to that question was "yesterday around twelve pm."

Once she was dressed and showered and all in all presentable (not necessarily in that order,) Reyna made her way out the room she had slept in and walked into the kitchen.

"Ah, Reyna," said Chiron. "Nice to see –"

"Chiron, Travis stuck a shoe in the vat of soup at the Demeter table and now Katie's shouting something about poison ivy in a 'place where the sun don't shine' and –" Percy looked over at Reyna. "Oh, hi, Reyna. What's up?"

Chiron sighed. "I'll go settle the poison ivy problem," he said, sounding exhausted.

Percy turned to Reyna. "So how did you sleep?"

"Pretty sure some sort of evil something tried to scare me while I was sleeping, and succeeded. Then I woke up to Rachel standing over me with a pile of clothes. I can't be sure, but I'm going to say well considering the circumstances."

Percy chuckled. "Sounds like a typical night here, really. Figured out anything about who you are yet, or were the dreams not that useful."

She shrugged. "Well, wolves came to me in one of my dreams, but my next dream involved kittens and La Cucaracha so I'm not sure I can trust my dreams. And I'm apparently not supposed to be alive, so that's still up in the air."

Percy frowned. "Not alive? Who said that?"

"Chiron."

Percy frowned even deeper. "Well, my best guess is that he just meant that you're old enough that, usually, a demigod on their own would have been killed by a monster by now. You beat the odds."

Before she really knew if it was a good choice, Reyna pulled up the sleeve of her jacket and showed Percy the sword tattoo and the marks on her arm. "But this. I think it has something to do with who I really am. The sword, I think, is the sign of Bel – Enyo. Of her. And then the marks…"

"Well are they for every, what, few years or so?" asked Percy. "Or maybe they have to do with achievements?" Percy suddenly began to look concerned. "You haven't killed that many people, have you? Because I'm going to be a little uncomfortable if you're part of some sort of killer clique thing."

Reyna groaned. "First of all, I doubt I've killed any humans. Second of all, even if I had, what makes you think I'd remember that of all things?"

Percy tilted his head to the side. "Fair point. And when it comes to SPQR, I've got no idea what that means. Again, Annabeth could tell you, but she's MIA right now."

Reyna pushed her coat back in place and sighed. "Got any ideas of your own?"

"Not about that ink you've got," said Percy. "But I did talk to Malcolm the other night – that's Annabeth's brother, the redhead – and according to him you might have some luck looking for one of the wind gods. You got attacked by wind spirits, and his theory is that the person who is controlling them might have some explanations for you."

Reyna allowed herself to smile a little bit. That was way farther than she had gotten on her own. "Wow, that's actually helpful."

"I know," said Percy, "shocker, right?"

"Could you take me to this Malcolm kid?" Reyna asked. "He might be able to help me."

Percy nodded. "Give me a sec." Reyna expected Percy to leave and go get the kid, but instead Percy leaned out the window, his body half falling out with one knee nearly in the kitchen sink. "Yo, Malcolm!" he shouted. "Come to the kitchen, Reyna's got a few questions."

A few seconds later, a kid with incredibly red hair came barreling in through the door. "Hi!" he said. "What do you need to know?"

Reyna tried not to look at Percy, who had gotten the heel of his sneaker stuck between the water faucet and one of the racks of dishes. "I was wondering where I should go to find the wind god you told Percy about."

"I'd try Quebec," suggested Malcolm. "Northern most development, this side of the world, if you think of it. He should be there."

"And I've got until the solstice to do this," said Reyna. "Four days. Great. Fantastic. This isn't going to kill me at all."

As Reyna was about to ask Malcolm if anyone at the camp had made any progress via the idea of teleportation, some huge guy with a rainbow tattoo on his shoulder burst through the door, looking as if there was something seriously distressing happening outside.

"Jackson!" he shouted. "The dragon's back."

"Dragon?" asked Reyna. "I'm taking that's not a good thing."

Percy groaned, looking like he was recalling a truly painful memory. "Not good," he said, "not good at all."

* * *

_A/N2: If anyone wants to guess who the voice was before the chapter where it is revealed, throw your guess in my askbox on tumblr and I'll tell you whether or not you're right. If you're correct, I'll write you a teeny 250-500 word PJO/HoO drabble of your choosing – any pairing, genre, plot, character, and rating you'd like. Good luck!_


	8. Flight

_A/N: So I cannot begin to apologize for how long this has taken me to update. Frankly, I've been outrageously busy for the past month, because I've started teaching 8 hours a week, I'm in class for 16 hours a week, and then I'm trying to get into two different honor societies at my school. On top of that, I'm looking for jobs, writing a truly outrageous amount for my history and education classes, and every once in a while I try to sleep. In short, I have had mucho on my plate but I'm trying to shove some stuff aside so I can post more often._

_However, there are a few things to keep in mind: 1) I can't promise more than an update a month, probably toward the end of each. If I make two, that's insanely great, but I will very likely be this busy or worse until May. But when May hits, I should have a bit more time in my hands. 2) Chapters might be a bit shorter if I plan on updating more often, as it means I don't have as much time to work between chapters._

_I hope you all understand my plight, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! Love you all!_

* * *

The dragon swooped to the ground, and on top of it was –

"Leo?!" said Reyna, staring up in shock at the boy on top of the giant metal reptile. "What are you – what?!"

"Shoot the thing!" shouted someone from the Ares cabin.

"Stand down!" shouted Reyna. "No one go anywhere near him – Leo's in control. I think."

"Hi!" he exclaimed from the top of the dragon, covered in motor oil. "Yeah, I have everything under control, don't you people worry." He hopped off of the big dragon and leaned against the side of it. "Needed a little work, but the boy's going to get us where we need to go."

"Boy," said Reyna, trying to grasp the situation. "You decided it's a boy."

Leo nodded. "Of course he's a boy. Can't you tell from the masculine attributes?" He turned to the dragon as something dark like oil dribbled out of its ear. "You know, I think we look alike."

Percy looked at Leo as if he had suggested they save Hera by building a rollercoaster and punching a cactus. "I have no idea what is happening," he said, befuddled.

"Reyna said she wanted me to get the transportation, so I got it."

Reyna's jaw simply dropped as she stared at Leo, who was covered in oil, grinning broadly, and looking extremely pleased with himself. "You got us a dragon to fly around on."

"I named him Festus."

Piper popped up from the side of the camp. "Festus," she said. "What kind of name is Festus?"

"You named our mode of transportation Happy," Reyna translated quickly in her head. "If it wasn't so brilliant, I'd be forced to hit you."

Leo shrugged. "So can we get going, or what? After I take a quick jump in the shower."

Percy and Reyna exchanged a look. "Take half an hour to pack, get ready – in Leo's case shower," said Percy. "Then I think you people are good to go."

Leo bounced off to the baths to clean some of the goop off of his skin, and Piper darted back into the Aphrodite cabin, glaring at Drew. Reyna blinked as she realized there had definitely been some conflict there. And she'd seen angry Piper. Angry Piper was not something one wanted to mess with.

As the rest of the camp cleared out and Festus stood there staring quite vacantly at Percy and Reyna, Percy rested an arm on Reyna's shoulder.

"You really should be getting your things together," he said gently. "You won't have much time, and you could use every second you have."

Reyna exhaled deeply, letting her eyes close for a moment. "I know," she said, "I'm just – I'm worried."

"About the quest?" asked Percy, looking confused. "But you're Reyna! And, like, I know I don't know you. Heck, I don't even know your last name. But you look like you've got this whole going on a quest thing down pat. Like you've got everything packed up in your brain to go defeat the Snuffaluffagus or something."

"Snuffaluffagus is a character on Sesame Street," said Reyna, "and I used to have everything packed up in my brain. At least, I think so. You seem to have forgotten I got a very thorough bleach and dry clean of my brain recently."

Percy's enthusiasm deflated, but only slightly. "Well maybe this quest will bring the memories back."

Reyna shrugged. "I hope so. Or maybe it'll bring back memories of being someone I don't want to think about." She sighed. "I don't want to find out I'm the bad guy."

Percy, surprisingly, scoffed. "You couldn't be the bad guy. You're the hero of this whole shindig. I can tell. You've got one of those faces."

Reyna sighed. "Well, thank you for the kind, if pop culturally inaccurate, words of wisdom."

Percy managed a smile. "Anytime. This," he sighed, "this is probably the last time we're going to see each other for a while. I'm off to grab my bag…And then I'm looking for her." He closed his eyes, trying to recall something so far off Reyna couldn't even fathom it. "I'm finding her."

Reyna offered a smile she wasn't sure Percy even saw and watched him run off…

And then literally disappear.

She wasn't sure what to make of that, and simply assumed she was dreaming. Or hallucinating from a lack of sleep.

Or something.

After a quick shower during which she tried to ignore the fact that, every time she wasn't thinking, she was singing some boyband song loudly and off key, she threw on some warm winter clothes, packed her very small amount of belongings, and walked over to Festus. Leo, newly washed, and Piper, her hair tied half back in a messy braid with the two little braids by the side of her face the only strands left out, were already standing there.

"Hey, Boss," said Leo, flashing her a smile. "Took you long enough."

Reyna furrowed her eyebrows. "Don't call me Boss, champ."

Leo shuddered. "Alright, I get it no nicknames."

Piper seemed to force a smile and grabbed a bit of Festus' scales that was sticking out and swung herself up onto the massive dragon. "You two coming?" she asked, settling herself but still looking horribly distracted.

Reyna simply nodded and noted Piper's demeanor, running toward the dragon and using the momentum to hook her foot on top of a scale and fly onto the dragon.

Leo, of course, got a little stuck getting up and needed Festus to pluck him by the collar by his huge dragon paw and deposit him right in front of Piper. Leo blushed. "Well, at least you guys know he's reliable." He situated himself better, making sure he wasn't halfway to falling off of the giant dragon. "Very good, very helpful dragon." Leo patted his neck. "Now to infinity – and beyond!" yelled Leo. He looked back at the two girls. "Toy Story!" he said gleefully.

Piper and Reyna only nodded carefully.

This was going to be a long trip.

* * *

The long trip was only longer when Reyna realized that the only thing to really grip onto was Piper. Reyna, it appeared, wasn't the best at staying balanced on a flying object without any sort of security, or at least this Reyna wasn't, so Reyna was trying to prevent things from getting horribly awkward by being only slightly less awkward. It wasn't her best plan.

"If you're worried you're going to fall off, you can hold on," said Piper lightly. Reyna could tell she was trying not to laugh.

"No laughing at me," said Reyna, trying to sound stern. "It's not nice to laugh at someone with brain damage."

"Oh, don't be crazy," said Leo, "it's not brain damage if your memories were stolen."

Reyna snorted. "How? How is that a logical theory for when something is or is not brain damage?"

Leo shrugged from his position on Festus. "Because I say so. And what the Captain says goes."

"I'm not sure you can be captain of something that is almost a sentient being," said Piper. There was a weird jolt sending Piper up a few feet into the air. Reyna grabbed around her waist to secure her, and couldn't decide if that made things more or less uncomfortable. "Fine, fine," grumbled Piper, "fully sentient being. No need to try and throw me off…"

Leo chuckled and patted Festus' neck. "Aw, he's just playing."

Piper looked uncomfortable. "Please," she said, "just don't let him kill me."

Leo nodded to Piper, then turned to Reyna. "So where are we headed, Boss?" He faltered when Reyna glared at him. "Er, I mean, Reyna?"

"We're looking for the god of the Northern Wind," replied Reyna. "His name is Boreas."

Leo laughed. "So he's the god of being boring, I assume."

Piper rolled her eyes. "Of course not," she replied, "god of Wind."

"Wind god," said Leo carefully, "meaning wind. Meaning creepy Dylan kid who simultaneously was hitting on Piper and was a wind demon."

"Thank you for reminding me of that," said Piper wrinkling her nose. "Ew."

Leo shrugged. "I call em as I see em," he said. "And besides, it's going to be a while before we get anywhere. I think we're over, like, Massachusetts right now."

"How could you possibly know that?" asked Piper, fighting a laugh.

Leo sighed. "Madam, you should know that I am a genius. I just know things."

Reyna couldn't help herself from chuckling a little bit at that comment herself.

"And I should probably tell you guys," said Reyna carefully, "I had one hell of a dream last night. And s-something else that wasn't quite a dream."

Piper turned around to look Reyna in the face. "Nothing, like, hurt you right?" she asked, sounding concerned. Behind the concern, though, was a bit of anger, like Piper was appalled that someone would have the gall to go anywhere near Reyna. Protective, almost.

Reyna refused to admit that she liked the idea of that.

Reyna shrugged. "Not sure if it was really hurting me, but a voice like ice told me – well, she didn't really tell me much. It was more that she was threatening me."

Leo and Piper's expressions both fell. "Threatened you?" they said, sounding dumbfounded. "Why?"

"And how?"

"And," added Piper, "who was able to breach the walls of Camp Half Blood? I mean, it's supposed to be impenetrable, right?"

Reyna nodded. "It wasn't a person, though. It was…Well, it was more like a thing. A spirit. It made me feel like it was going to cut my throat with its voice." Reyna paused. "Her voice," she amended. "Her. It was a female voice." Reyna shuddered involuntarily.

Piper frowned. "Was is Hera?" she asked.

Reyna shook her head. "Nope. It was completely different. This woman was like ice so cold she'd burn. And the regal way she spoke was different…Not war like as much as thinking she was above everyone."

"Could it be that woman we're all trying to defeat?" Leo asked.

Reyna shrugged. "I mean, it's not like the person left me a business card. 'Evil Incorporated – you supply your sanity, we'll rip it away for a minor charge.' I've got no idea who it is."

Piper sighed, looking like she wanted nothing less than finding whoever interrupted Reyna's sleep and hitting them repeatedly with a shoe. "In short, someone threatened you and we've got no idea who it was."

_And they threatened you_, Reyna thought. She didn't say anything – she didn't want to make things weirder.

"Did either of you have any weird dreams last night?" asked Piper after a strange silence.

Reyna turned to her. "Involving a wolf and…" Reyna fought to remember. "Well, an announcement that I'm the daughter of Bellona."

"Wolf?" asked Piper. "What?"

Reyna explained the dream she'd had. The wolf, the pain in its eyes that was centuries old, the destroyed land, a home turned to hell.

Leo and Piper just looked shocked. "I'm going to take a wild guess this has something to do with the giants and the creepy lady who's trying to kill us."

Reyna raised a single eyebrow. "Gee, you think?"

"_Giants revenge,"_ said Piper carefully. "I can't – I'm trying to remember if there are any bits of information involving giants in Greek mythology. There's something." She furrowed her brow, deep in concentration. "Ugh, that entire movie was wrapped up in the time when I accidentally stole a lawnmower. A lot of it is blocked out."

"A lawnmower?" Leo asked, fighting back a laugh. "What, your grass getting so out of control you simply had to tame it with theft?"

Piper rolled her eyes. "I was a kid – I had issues." She paused for a minute, and then lit up. "Right! Okay, so there were these awful giants, they're the ones we're probably dealing with, who were massive, nearly impossible to kill. Mountain throwing menaces, little cousins of the Titans, that kind of thing. They tried to destroy Olympus after Kronos was defeated. I mean, after the first Titan war. Not the one that happened over the summer."

"The last chapter," said Reyna. "The thing Chiron was talking about."

Leo sighed. "And how come your dad never did a movie involving eating ice cream with kittens?"

"Movie?" asked Reyna. "Your dad's an actor?"

Leo nodded. "The fabulous Tristan McLean, who just about flipped a gasket when he found out Piper –"

"Not now, Leo," said Piper dangerously.

Coughing, Leo correctly himself. "Right. Back to business. Hardcore Jillian-Michaels-from-Biggest-Loser training mentality wolf, four other demigods who should help us eventually, but not now, the evil wind dudes who are hopefully not in cahoots with the wind dude we're going to talk to right now, and someone trying to kill Bos-Reyna," Leo grinned at Reyna as she glared at him after he'd corrected himself. "So that means I should probably wait to bring up the psycho babysitter who used to try and make me play with fire as a kid." Reyna's and Piper's jaws dropped. "Well, that was my dream," said Leo, cheerily. "Yeah, brought back a bunch of memories. I was stuck in fireplaces, and it turns out it was Hera all that time. Go figure. And, at one point? This other lady wearing, like, dirt as a cloak, tried to kill me." He frowned. "Or something. That part's still a bit fuzzy."

"So," interjected Reyna, "this quest is probably only the beginning."

All three of them sighed deeply. "And we couldn't have those other four here now to help because apparently life hates us," said Piper.

"Is it wrong to say that I totally don't want to have to do this?" asked Leo.

Piper shook her head. "I don't want to either, but we have no choice."

Reyna nodded. "We save Hera, or the giants rise to kill everything." She shrugged. "Might just be me but 'everything dead' is a lot worse than 'just some things dead.'"

Leo sighed deeply, which turned into a yawn, which turned into a bigger yawn.

"You might want to consider sleeping," said Reyna, offering a small smile.

Leo nodded, yawning again. "I pr-probably should."

And he promptly slumped against the neck of the dragon, passing out.

Piper yawned as well.

"Are you tired?" Reyna asked. "Did you have any dreams that kept you up?

Piper opened her mouth, about to speak, then closed it again, shaking her head. "I, um, didn't really," she said, sputtering a bit. She shrugged. "Just wanted to, uh, check in with you two."

Reyna recognized the funny sputter, the break in the typically easy cadence of Piper's speech. She knew – she KNEW – that was Piper's response to lying. But she didn't know how she knew.

The memory loss was exasperating, and Reyna's entire mind felt as if it was falling off the back of Festus, ready to make friends with all the confused little kittens dancing the Cucaracha in her dreams. That, honestly, seemed like an easier sentence than what she was dealing with at the moment.

They flew in silence for a while, Leo asleep and Piper beginning to doze herself, and Reyna watching town after town beneath them fade. Leo snored loudly, but it didn't bother Reyna. It meant that he at least was getting some rest.

As time passed- minutes or hours or days, she couldn't be sure –Reyna realized Piper had entirely fallen asleep against her. Before she could stop herself, Reyna brushed a lock of stray hair out of Piper's face and held on to her so she couldn't fall off.

"Sleeping Beauty living up to her name?" called Leo from the front of Festus.

Reyna nearly jumped off of Festus. "You're awake!" she said, sounding shocked.

Leo laughed. "People typically do that," he said. "I'm good on no sleep – sometimes."

Reyna nodded. "I get that. Are we almost there?"

Leo squinted out to the distance, looking at the city. "Maybe?"

Piper began to stir against Reyna, turning slightly and nearly falling off before Reyna caught her. Piper sat up abruptly.

"Whoa!" said Reyna. "Are – are you okay? I'm sorry! You shifted so fast I couldn't –"

Piper began to slow her breathing. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said, still looking worried. "Fine, of course. Sleeping while flying isn't great." She shuddered a bit. "I'm gonna not do that again, the falling thing, sound good?"

Reyna and Leo both nodded. "Yeah, no falling," said Leo.

Piper looked out over the land. "Quebec City," she said simply.

Leo stared at her. "And you know that…How?"

Piper put on a ridiculous accent and tone of voice, flipping a lock of hair over her shoulder. "Because my daddy did a movie there!" In an instant the girly, flashy attitude was gone. "No, you dumbo. Just because I'm a kid of Aphrodite doesn't mean I can't read. I've spent a lot of time in cars, and my dad's got a kindle. Thus, I've got my pretty little brain edjumacated."

Leo's eyebrows shot up. "Well somebody overdosed on sass today."

"You'll overdose on your daily dose of stupid if you keep talking," said Piper, but she couldn't hide her grin, and all three of them laughed.

"So, genius," said Leo when they'd calmed down, "if you know so much, what's that castle?"

Piper looked at it more closely. "I'd guess a hotel," she said simply.

"Yeah, right," laughed Leo, "like – oh."

Piper shot him a grin. "Are those valets and doormen?" she asked, an air of false confusion. "Hmm, do they work at hotels?"

"I did not expect the North Wind to stay at a hotel, so I –"

"Guys?" said Reyna, carefully. "I'd appreciate it if the bickering would stop. We're about to get attacked."

"By what?"

Reyna pointed out at what looked like demonic little snow angels wielding swords. "Them."


	9. Ice

_A/N: Hi everyone! Whew have I been busy, but yay that I managed to get a chapter up within the month! Hopefully I can do the same for April and then get back in a better swing for the summer (unless, of course I get the camp counseling job, which might block up my schedule in a different way.) I hope this chapter was good enough to wait for and, of course, I will likely be posting around this time in April. I love you guys and thank you for hanging on and still reading when I have had a lot of difficulty posting as rapidly as I once did._

_Read, review, but I most of all hope you enjoy : )_

* * *

The two snow angels flew toward them, and Leo had to do some pretty fancy flight work to avoid them, which did nothing good to Reyna's stomach. Swooping around and then stopping quickly in front of them, Festus paused unexpectedly. Reyna launched forward and nearly flatted Leo and Piper with her off balanced fall.

"Whoa! Okay, you two," Leo said, pointing ahead to Festus' head and behind him to Reyna, "calm down."

"I'm trying to!" said Reyna, adjusting herself so she was no longer squashing Piper. "You try being calm being thrown around without expecting it. And besides, your dragon is the only one actually causing trouble."

Flying toward them still were the two unattractive little snow things. They appeared to be regular teenagers, but for their wings and ice-hair. They had a familial resemblance – one only a mother could love, in Reyna's opinion.

One was huge, the size of an ox, and looked just about like a really dissatisfied, bad at fighting hockey fan, with black eyes and really unflattering clothing. The second looked like a rock star, but one who has seriously missed the memo about mullets being out of fashion. Reyna could tell he thought he was the king of looking hot, but, frankly, she wanted to do nothing but make him be out of her sight. He was also fairly small – like a middle schooler who desperately wanted to be grown up.

The two brothers-of-unfortunate-looks floated right up in front of Festus, pausing to stare at the dragon and the three demigods. "No access, not even to the hot one," said the rockstar wannabe. Reyna, thinking he was talking about Leo and kidding about the accent, was about to giggle amiably at the fake French accent until she realized that it may have been real.

Leo chuckled. "Well, I'm not going in without the ladies," he joked. "But, seriously, we need to talk to –"

"This is restricted airspace," said Rockstar. "You have no flight plan. You're breaking the rules."

"Destroy them?" asked the hockey angel, sounding strangely excited.

Reyna pulled her hair clip out of the tip of her braided ponytail, preparing to send it into sword mode, and she could sense Festus preparing to defend them as well.

"Wait!" cried Leo. "Come on, boys, be kind to your guests. Can I get the name of those who have the honor of, um, destroying us?"

The ox grinned broadly. "I am Cal!" he pronounced, sound very pleased with himself.

"That's short for Calais," Rockstar clarified. "He is unable to say words with more than two syllables –"

"Pizza! Destroy," Cal looked very excited, "HOCKEY!"

"- which, in fact, includes his own name," concluded Rockstar. "I, on the other hand, am –"

"I am Cal! He is Zethes! Zethes is brother!"

Rockstar, or Zethes, turned around to glare at Cal. "You're too stupid to pronounce your own name, yet you never cease to interrupt and annoy me."

"Hey, he almost made it to three real sentences," said Leo. "I'm impressed."

Cal nodded and smiled.

Zethes rolled his eyes. "Well, idiot, you clearly can't tell that they're mocking you. But, yes, I am Zethes. But the ladies," he leered at Piper and winked at Reyna, "you can call me whatever you want."

That immediately made Reyna desire a long, boiling hot shower where she curled up in the corner and cried for half an hour of it. She cringed involuntarily, shuddering.

Piper seemed to be experiencing the same disgust, because she made a sound like gagging on a cough drop. "Good god," said Piper, "That's the most terrifying thing I think I've ever heard."

Zethes, apparently taking their reactions the opposite way of how they were intended, nodded. "Yeah, girls, we Boreads are quite the romantic people, with a touch of French. You know what the French have done to love?" He wiggled his eyebrows. "We invented the ménage –"

As Piper appeared to be contemplating throwing herself off of Festus and Reyna was literally twitching, Leo interrupted, "Boreads?"

Reyna, calming down slightly, said, "as in the sons of Boreas?"

Zethes' creepy leer increased. "So the lady has heard of us."

"They lady will skewer you through the gut if you don't stop hitting on her," deadpanned Reyna.

Zethes coughed. "Oh, I get it." He winked again, looking like he was having a spasm. "You're playing hard to get. Well, if it helps with the cred, Cal and I are our father's gatekeepers, which means that, no matter how pretty two thirds of them are, we simply cannot authorize unlicensed," he looked down at Festus, "um, metalwork to flying above our palace scaring the mortals."

He pointed below, and Reyna noticed people staring up at them. Knowing the mist the assumption was probably just a helicopter, she wasn't too worried, but it was still making her uncomfortable.

"Which is why, unless there is an emergency landing, we are simply unable to allow you to live and are required to kill you painfully."

"Destroy!" yelled Cal jubilantly.

Piper shifted. "But this is an emergency landing," said Piper, sounding convincing to even Reyna's ears.

Cal looked like someone just deflated his favorite birthday balloon. "Aw."

Zethes took another stare at Piper, and Reyna got halfway overwhelmed with the desire to introduce his face to her knee. She took a deep breath, though, and made the effort not to react at all. "How does the lovely lady decide this is an emergency?"

Reyna was almost overwhelmed with the desire to hit Zethes until Piper spoke. "We simply must see Boreas. It's totally urgent!" She batted her eyelashes. "Please?" The smile on her face was forced, but despite that, she was still radiant, and it had the desired effect on Zethes.

"I mean, we would let you through," clarified Zethes, playing with his silk shirt. "But, um, you see, lovely lady, it's our sister, she'd absolutely storm if we let you –"

"Well, our dragon's also malfunctioning, so if you want us plummeting to earth and scaring the bejesus out of all the mortals."

Piper's matter-of-fact tone was funny enough to Reyna that she almost laughed and gave it all away.

Festus, unlike Reyna, was on his A game with helping out the situation, coughed, and leaked a strange amount of black fluid out onto a Mercedes below.

"No destroy?" Cal murmured, looking horribly depressed.

Zethes briefly pondered the situation, then sighed. "Well, if it is an emergency, who am I to prevent you from finding safety?"

"But destroy later?" Cal asked.

Zethes shrugged. "We'd have to do some serious explaining, but I guess we can take your faulty dragon and you down. I warn you, though. Our father hasn't been fond of visitors lately."

"Oh, don't you worry," said Piper, "you'll find I can charm even the coldest of hearts."

Zethes snorted at that, and Cal said, "Try hard."

Reyna had no idea what that meant.

"Come on, guys!" said Leo. "Let's follow them. What's the worst that can happen?"

"Boreas could be a level of unkind to us visitors that could make us very, very dead," Reyna offered.

"Pshaw," said Leo, waving off the worry. "Who wouldn't love us?"

And they flew after the flashlights, getting closer and closer. Reyna briefly was worried they were about to crash into a tower, until a secret compartment that made her pretty uncomfortable was opened in the roof. She immediately tensed. "This doesn't feel right," she murmured, a wave of discomfort flooding over her.

The landed in a room that, once upon a time, would have been the more elite of penthouses, but this one looked like a portal to Antarctica. Reyna stepped off the dragon and almost slipped to the floor, had it not been for Piper catching her around the waist and setting her on her feet.

Reyna forced herself to ignore the flood of something rushing to her heart.

"Hey, guys," said Leo, landing on the carpet heavily. "Check the thermostat. I think your heat might be broken."

"Something feels wrong," said Reyna, completely ignoring Leo. "Really, really wrong."

"I got snow in my pants," groaned Piper, shaking her boot.

Interrupting everyone's thoughts came Festus, groaning and shivering as ice began to slowly coat his skin.

"Well, you've got to get the dragon deactivated. There is no fire allowed in this room." He fluffed his unfortunately styled mullet. "Heat wrecks my hair."

Festus growled as his jaw chattered, and Leo rested a comforting hand on his head. "Shh, it's okay boy." Turning to Zethes, he said, "Alright, the dragon's a bit sensitive about getting deactivated, so we need to be careful about the terminology, okay?" He grinned. "But I've got the perfect solution, so there's no need to worry."

"Destoy," said Cal authoritatively, nodding.

Leo rolled his eyes. "No, but good use of your limited vocabulary. Try to say 'cake' or 'sauna' or 'television' next time – something that doesn't imply my death."

"Leo," said Piper cautiously, "are you sure you're –"

"Don't doubt my skills, beauty queen," said Leo. "Last night during my repairs I found some fancy buttons. Some? You don't want to know. But others?" He shrugged. "I'll let you see for yourselves." Leo maneuvered himself around the dragon's foreleg, pulled a switch, and like lightning the dragon began to fold himself like origami. His plating staked together neatly and he collapsed into a carryon-sized cube. Leo swaggered over to the box and went to pick it up before Reyna could remind him of how dense it would be.

He grunted unattractively as he tried to pull it up, and coughed uncomfortable. "Right, no lifting. Um. Hold on." He fiddled with the box for a few moments, and a handle popped out.

"Ta da!" he announced.

"Every single law of physics is screaming in agony," said Reyna. "That's not even halfway possible."

"Psh," said Leo, "that's what I always used to say about gods, and look where we are now!" He shrugged. "We're demigods, Reyna. Impossible doesn't exist for us anymore."

Zethes, interrupting them, drew his sword, Cal not far behind. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"What'd I do?" Leo asked. "What'd I do?!"

"What are you? A child of the South Wind?" he growled. "I knew those jerks were out to spy on us again."

"Hate south," grumbled Cal.

"Nope," said Leo, shaking his head rapidly. "No South and no Wind in me. I'm just a little ol' son of Hephaestus. "Blacksmith buddy, not meaning any harm!"

"Fire," said Cal. "Smell fire."

Leo, to Reyna's surprise, changed expression, looking almost guilty. "Well, yeah, I've been working with oil and my hair's a bit singed –"

"No," said Zethes, poking Leo with his sword, "the fire – we smell it. On _you._"

"Thought dragon," said Cal.

"But now the dragon is a suitcase," said Zethes, "so the smell of fire is on you."

Leo looked like he was a mouse caught between a cat and a hard place. "Hey, I don't, it's not. I don't know," he turned to Reyna and Piper. "Help a guy out, you two?" he asked, sounding pitiful.

Reyna still had the hair clip in her hand, and stepped forward. "If I were you, I'd quit freaking my friend out. Leo's not a fire demon or whatever you're trying to claim he is. The guy's clean."

"Lies," said Zethes.

"Oh, come on!" said Piper, trying to appear joyful but actually looking as if she feared for her life. "We're friends here, right? Let's put the swords down and talk things out."

Her voice, though the power was weakened, and it appeared to be affecting everyone in the room. Even Reyna found herself pinning her hair clip back into place.

"The beautiful one is right, and can't help being attracted to me," said Zethes. Reyna shuddered and was halfway to hiding Piper away from his creepy gaze. He looked like he wanted to do what Piper was asking, but like something else was speaking to him that he couldn't ignore. "But I simply cannot oblige." His icy cold sword pressed against Leo's chest, and Leo looked terrified.

"Destroy?" asked Cal.

Zethes nodded. "And now, I believe –"

Reyna, now having shaken off the haze of Piper's voice, pulled the clip out again, messing up her braid, and stepped up in front of Zethes, triggering her clip into a sword, and got right into Zethes' face. "We're not a threat," she said calmly. "He's a son of Hephaestus, she's a daughter of Aphrodite, and I'm a –"

"Wait," said Zethes. "I know you."

Reyna was floored. That was not how she was expecting this to go. "No you don't," she said. "Do you? No, you don't." She paused. "Do you?"

Cal shook his head. "No," he said, "this one too short."

"Hey!" said Reyna. "I'm five foot six, I'm not –"

"Not the time, Rey," said Piper from behind her.

"Right," said Reyna, focusing. "What do you mean, you know me?"

"You can't be her," said Zethes. "It's not – you can't."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Reyna slowly. "And I can assure you, I've never met either of you before." _But can I? Can I assure them I've never been here when I don't even know my last name?_ Reyna thought. She could have been here daily as a kid, for all she knew. She could have come here on field trips, and with this memory loss she never would have known that.

"You do not strike me as a queen," said Zethes. "You are not her."

"I agree with that," said Reyna, still confused out of her mind. "And nope. Not a queen." She paused. "Queens tend to hate me." _Where did THAT gem of information come from?_

"Well, perhaps we will get to know you more," suggested Zethes. "Because there is something at work here I am not familiar with." He looked over Reyna in a different way than before. Not checking her out, but sizing her up – checking his enemy for their weakspots.

"Why?" asked Leo. "What'd Reyna do? Are we in trouble?"

"That," said the icy voice of Reyna's nightmares, "depends on the will of my father."

All three demigods stared up the staircase, and Reyna felt like somebody was stabbing her in the mind with frozen, unbreakable, liquid fear.

_Aha_, said the voice in Reyna's head, the ice princess' appearance matching her cold, cruel tone, _I see you recognize me from that night. Surprise, surprise, little demigod._

Reyna could hardly move.

"Rey?" Piper muttered, slipping her hand into Reyna's. "It's okay, there's no need to be scared."

Leo looked over at Reyna, and his face flooded with confusion as he realized that the generally strong-willed, brave Reyna looked as if she were about to pee her pants with fear. _I'm a regular fearly quest leader,_ thought Reyna sarcastically

Khione's face looked even more malicious. _Oh, well, would you look at that_, Khione whispered into Reyna's head._ Your princess is protecting you and you protect her. The most brave of relationships, and it isn't even real._ The cold voice laughed in Reyna's head as memories that existed only in Piper's mind appeared briefly in Reyna's. The two of them, slow dancing on the roof of a building, watching the stars. A time where Piper made Reyna dance to some ridiculous pop song in one of their dorm rooms. A kiss – a kiss that existed as a fake in Piper's mind, but had never been put into Reyna's. The false memories were agony, and the expression on Khione's face was joy._ Yes, those are just a taste of some memories that she knows but you don't. Isn't that sweet? She thinks so highly of you. It would be such a tragedy if…Something happened to the beautiful angel on your left before you could truly have these memories as something real. She could simply disappear, and might never know you were real._

"Over my dead body," vowed Reyna, her voice as quiet yet forceful as she could make it, "you won't touch her."

"What?" muttered Piper. "Reyna, are you okay? You seem…Uncomfortable or something."

"It was her," muttered Reyna into Piper's ear, "she was the voice in my ear the other night."

Piper looked up at Khione and glared at her with all of her effort. "Well then," said Piper loudly, in Khione's direction. "You're threatening Reyna? Because if you are, you've got to get through me."

"Do you know her?" Leo asked, looking enamoured. "Because you should totally introduce me."

Khione scoffed, ignoring Leo, as if Piper were so far below her the idea of Khione spending time thinking about her was simply laughable. "Threatening Reyna?" Khione said. "The girl doesn't care an ounce for herself like she does another." The ice cold smile hardened and the grin reached those evil eyes. "No, I do not threaten her," she folded her hands. "I threaten you, daughter of beauty."


End file.
